
A MANUAL 


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CIVIL GOVERNMENT 




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INDIANA 

Township and County 
Town and City 

Describes the Legislature at "WorK 
The Machinery of Political Parties 
The Law of Contracts Etc. >J* 

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Told in the Language of the School Room 
for Citizens Large and Small, 


Price 50 Cents 


Manual Publishing Compant 

COVINGTON, IND. 


PRESS OF TEACHERS JOURNAL PRINTING CO., MARION, IND. 

























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A MANUAL 


OF 

CIVIL GOVERNMENT 


OF THE 


Township and County 
Town and City 

Describes the Legislature at Work 
The Machinery of Political Parties 
The Law of Contra61s, Etc. Told 
in the language of the schoolroom 
for citizens large and small :: :: 

J— ’ - 

3 3 > 

* 3 J 

COPYRIGHTED BY 

D. W. SANDERS 

. 1906 


Published and For Sale by 

MANUAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

COVINGTON, IND. 







,'JiiRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooios Received 

AUG Zl 1906 

/] COflyrigitt l;ntry 

UAXy23,P<fo(, 

$AS^/ Q- Me, No. 

/S/S*+<5 

COPY B. 



To the school boy and school girl of Indiana, to the high 
school student, to the hard working teacher, and to citi- 
cens, who have often asked in vain the questions answered 
herein, this little volume is respectfully inscribed. 

THE AUTHOR. 


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f 


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v r- « 






Having been a teacher for several years—chiefly in high 
school and teachers’ normals, I realized the urgent need for 
such a text, and for that reason have compiled this “Man¬ 
ual.” 

Very truly yours, 






FASSETT A. COTTON, 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction. 




















A FEW WORDS ON GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 


Dear Young Citizen of Indiana: 

By citizen, we mean not only the man who votes, but 
his wife, sister, sweetheart, son and daughter as well. So 
no matter which one of the six you are, this book was writ¬ 
ten for you. You desire to know about the government 
of your township and county, don’t you? 

You have probably drawn the map of your county many 
times and divided it up into townships. It is possible to 
do so without doing very much thinking, and with but 
little knowledge of the county, if you draw from another 
map. 

Can you call off the names of the different townships 
and point toward each one as you name it? This does 
not mean, can you point them out on the map, but can you 
point toward them across the fields from your desk ? 

If you will now face the north with your county map 
in front of you and locate your own township and your 
schoolhouse, then the real township outdoors is situated 
with reference to your schoolhouse just as it appears to 
be on the map; and other townships are the same direc¬ 
tion from yours that they appear to be on the map. 

If you face the south while studying either the geog¬ 
raphy of your county or the United States the real direc¬ 
tions are just the opposite of the directions on the page— 
for the top of the map is always north. 

The first eight years I studied geography at school, I 
sat facing the south ; and it took me ten years after I grad¬ 
uated to get rid of the fallacy that the sun rose in Kan- 


6 


sas and set in New Jersey. When I taught in that same 
schoolhouse years afterward I turned the desks to save 
each of the twenty-eight students ten years of valuable 
time—280 years in all. 

By a few minutes’ study you can commit to memory 
the names of the townships, their location, their towns 
and railroads. 

Do you know how far your township extends, what 
roads are along the boundaries, and what families live 
along these roads, or live just over in the edge of the 
other township? 

What are the leading cities and towns of your county ? 
A single county very rarely has more than three cities, 
but each township is almost certain to have one or more 
towns. If you have not been in all these towns you have 
probably been in some of them, or you know people who 
live in them. These towns are just like the hundreds of 
towns you see marked on the maps of your geographies. 
The people talk just as you do and no better—the children 
study exactly the same school books as yourself, and are 
just as bright, but no brighter. To the town or city boy 
who reads this we say that the farmer boy studies the 
same books, reads the same tales and the same Y. P. R. C. 
books; so if you meet you can talk your school troubles 
over if you are in the same grade. 

In your geography studies you notice that every State 
has a capital. 

This is often the largest or oldest city in that State, 
but not always. What is the capital ? It i 3 the' city 
where the State’s public business is carried on; it is where 
the Governor makes his home during his four years’ term 
of office. It is not often that we elect a man Governor 
who already lives at the capital. Governor Mathews was 
a wealthy farmer of Vermillion County when elected in 




J. FRANK HANLY, 
Governor of Indiana. 














BENJAMIN HARRISON, OF INDIANA, 
Twenty-third President of the United States. 










9 


1892; Governor Mount was a wealthy farmer of Mont¬ 
gomery County when elected in ? 96. Governor Durbin 
was a banker in Anderson in Madison County. The State 
Legislature meets at the capitol of the State on Thursday 
next after the first Monday in January every two years— 
each year that ends in an odd number, as in 1895, 1897, 
1899, 1901 and 1903, etc. 

Their meeting at Indianapolis makes that city the capi¬ 
tal of Indiana. 

There are 150 men elected to make our laws and elect 
a LBiited States Senator. They are divided into two 
groups like two grades at school. One hundred in the 
lower class, called Representatives, elected every two 
years. The other fifty, called Senators, are elected for 
four years. 

The Senate is called the upper house of our State Leg¬ 
islature. The House of Representatives is called the low¬ 
er house. Every State in the Union has its Legislature of 
two branches called the Senate and the House. The 
word “legislature” means a law-making body. A State 
Legislature generally calls itself the “General Assembly.” 
Every statute of Indiana starts with these words, “Be it 
enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indi¬ 
ana,” etc. 

Our National Legislature, which makes laws concerning 
money, wars, the army, the navy, is called the Congress. 
It is also divided into an upper and a lower house called 
the Senate and the House of Representatives. 

Congress meets on the first Monday of each December 
at Washington City; so we call that the capital of the 
United States. 

Do you know who is the present Representative in Con¬ 
gress from this district? If not, find out by tomorrow 
morning. The ninety-two counties of Indiana are 


10 


grouped into thirteen congressional districts, each em¬ 
bracing about seven counties. The districts go by num¬ 
bers as First District, Second District, etc. In which dis¬ 
trict is your county? 

Our two United States Senators are both Republicans— 
Jas. A. Hemenway and Albert J. Beveridge. Both are 
lawyers and both were poor boys. You have probably 
heard them make speeches at some convention, or rally, or 
Old Settlers’ meeting. If so, you should have paid close 
attention. Wise boys and girls never giggle, nor talk in 
a crowd when any man or woman is making a speech. 
Some boys and girls sixty years of age often forget this. 
If you are a good student you listen quietly to his argu¬ 
ment, whether the speaker’s politics is the same as yours 
and your father’s or not. Some say it is not polite to 
argue politics at school or in company. It isn’t unless the 
argument is carried on by polite persons. Then it may be 
proper; otherwise it isn’t polite to argue anything 

THE LEGISLATURE AT WORK. 

Let us now watch the Legislature pass a law over at In¬ 
dianapolis in the State House. See the picture of that 
building in your geography. 

The fifty Senators are in the Senate Chamber which 
looks like a beautiful schoolroom. Each desk cost over 
$100. The 100 Representatives are across the hallway in 
another beautiful room. In the Senate the Lieutenant- 
Governor, up in front, presides over the meeting like the 
chairman of a debating society, or a Sunday School Su¬ 
perintendent or the chairman of a political convention. 
The Representatives elect one of their own member's 
chairman, called the Speaker. The political party which 
has the majority always elects the Speaker and there is 
generally quite a scramble for the place. 



CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS, 

Elected Vice-President of the United States to serve from 

March 4, 1905, to March 4, 1909. 












ALBERT J. BEVERIDGE, 
United States Senator from Indiana. 








13 


The Lieutenant Governor is the President of the State 
Senate. 

Each house transacts the greater part of its business 
by means of committees. Eor instance there is in each 
house the “Committee on Education/’ to which is referred 
all bills and all reports and inquiries pertaining to educa¬ 
tion. This committee, as well as all other committees, is 
appointed by the presiding officer of the house to which 
the committee belongs. The first man named by the pre¬ 
siding officer on the committee, usually consisting of 
about seven members, is its chairman. The chairman 
calls meetings of the committee and presides at the meet¬ 
ings. The Speaker is careful that each chairman of a 
“House” committee is of the same political party as the 
Speaker, and that a majority also of the committee is of 
the same persuasion as the Speaker. 

The Lieutenant-Governor is equally careful in the 
Senate. 

Any member of either House may, of his own accord 
and without the consent of any committee, introduce any 
bill that he wishes, proposing a new law or the repeal of 
an old law or an amendment to any law. But it may, by 
motion of a member, be referred to the proper commit¬ 
tee, and may never be heard of again. 

Eor instance, Senator Johnston, of Crawfordsville, 
Montgomery County, introduced “An act for regulating 
the speed and privileges of automobiles on the public 
highways” in the Legislature of 1903. There was no 
“Committee on Automobiles” and the bill could not there¬ 
fore be referred. The only way to get rid of the bill, so 
that they could devote their attention to fish and game 
laws and to a revision of the dog laws, was to bring it 
to a vote. 


14 


When a bill is passed by either House it must be signed 
by the presiding officer and sent on to the other house. 
If again passed it is signed by the presiding officer and 
passed on to the Governor. If the Governor approves it 
he signs it and it becomes a law, as we shall see presently. 
If he neglects the bill for three days it becomes a law, as 
though he had signed it. If he is opposed to having the 
bill become a law he may return it within three days to 
the house where it originated with his written objections 
and his “veto.” But if a bare majority of each house 
again vote for it it becomes a law over his veto. This re¬ 
quires a vote of twenty-six in the Senate, and fifty-one in 
the House. When a vote is to be cast the Clerk of the 
House voting stands up by the presiding officer and calls 
the roll of members. As each member’s name is called 
he answers “yea” or “nay/’ which means for or against 
the bill, and the clerk marks how each man votes. If the 
yeas have a majority the bill must be sent to the other 
house to be voted on in the same way. H either house 
amends a bill which has been sent to it by the other, by 
changing just one word or the spelling of a word, and then 
passes it, the bill must be returned to the original house 
and again passed before it can be sent to the Governor. 
If the house wffiich originated the bill refuse to concur in 
the amendment, they may restore the bill to its original 
form and send it back or may drop it. For before a bill 
gets to the Governor’s table it must have been adopted in 
all its parts by a majority of both houses. 

A typical day in the Senate may be somewhat thus: 

Shortly before noon the Lieutenant-Governor takes his 
seat and raps on the table with his mallet and calls for 
order. Then the day’s session is opened with prayer by 
the chaplain. After prayer the president says: “Is the 
committee on fish and game laws ready to report ? Mr. 


15 


J— is chairman of that committee, I believe.” Mr. J—, 
if he happens to be present, arises at his desk and says: 
‘‘Mr. President, your committee has the honor to report 
the following bill: ‘Be it enacted by the General Assem¬ 
bly of the State of Indiana, That it shall be unlawful for 
any person to catch more than twenty-five big black bass in 
one day.’ ” (This law was actually passed in 1901.) 

The roll call shows a majority of the Senators for the 
bill. It is then passed on to the House. It is perhaps 
amended to read “fifty” bass instead of twenty-five. 
Amendment rejected by Senate and original passed by 
House, signed by the Governor and is a law—but it never 
had much effect on black bass. 

The Legislature remains in session sixty days at $6 a 
day for each member. This partially pays their expenses. 
We can’t expect much from a $6 Legislature. When the 
session is over the laws are at once published and bound 
into a volume called “The Acts.” From 100 to 500 copies 
are sent to each County Clerk for distribution. So soon as 
the Secretary of State receives a receipt of the books from 
all the County Clerks the Governor issues a proclamation 
declaring all the laws in effect. Some laws, with an emer¬ 
gency clause, go into effect as soon as signed by the Gov¬ 
ernor, and every Judge, Mayor, and Justice of the Peace 
must make his decisions according to them. 

THE LAWS, LAWYERS, AND THE PRACTICE OF LAW. 

The Legislature, as we have told you, meets—well you 
remember when and where, don’t you? They meet to 
make new laws. If a new law conflicts with an old one, 
the new one is the law. Some laws are repealed without 
making another to take its place. The great bulk of our 
laws remain the same year after year. Some laws are over 
fifty years old. All the laws of Indiana are bound into 


16 


one large volume called the “Statutes of Indiana.” They 
fill about 2,000 pages and are equal to about thirty-five 
such books as an ordinary third reader. Whenever you 
see a “Statutes,” notice the date on the back. It ought 
not to be more than twenty years old. The Revised Stat¬ 
utes of 1881 are about as far back as you can depend on. 
Most of our present liquor laws, “The Nicholson Law,” 
dates from 1895. There is so much law, that although it is 
made as simple as possible the ordinary citizen and busi¬ 
ness man can not study very much of it. They generally 
consult a lawyer, called also attorney. It is the attorney’s 
business to know the law, or to inform himself about it 
before he gives advice. The most honest of men disagree 
about their legal rights, and have to let their troubles be 
adjusted in Court according to law. Lawyers also dis¬ 
agree as to the meaning of the laws, and disagree with the 
judge and appeal the case to the Supreme Court for final 
settlement. The Supreme Court judges write out their 
views in the case. These written views or opinions consti¬ 
tute what are called the Indiana Reports. These written 
decisions fill about 85,000 pages. 

Were you ever in a lawyer’s office? Whose? What 
town ? Lawyers generally live at the county seat, but not 
always. You probably noticed the big book cases filled 
with leather bound books. Most lawyers have a set of the 
Indiana Reports, nearly 160 volumes. Three volumes are 
published each year now as the judges of the Supreme 
Court continue to write opinions. This set of books costs 
about $400. 

There is one other court to which a person may appeal 
if dissatisfied with the verdict in the County Circuit Court. 
That is the Appellate Court, which, as its name indicates, 
can try only such cases as have already been tried else¬ 
where and sent to it on appeal. It is the same as the Su- 


17 


preme Court only in respect to the size of cases it may 
try. If the amount of money involved is below $3,500, 
then an appealed case is sent to the Appellate Court; if 
above $3,500, then to the Supreme Court. Or if one con¬ 
victed of a misdemeanor appeals, his case is heard by the 
Appellate Court; if convicted of a felony he appeals to 
the Supreme Court. The written decisions of the Appel¬ 
late Court now fill about thirty volumes of reports. 

When lawyers on different sides of a case disagree on 
the meaning of a certain law they search through these 
reports to see if a similar case has ever been decided by 
the Supreme or Appellate Court. If they find several de¬ 
cisions upon similar but not quite the same points they try 
to prove their own case by those in their favor. 

The lawyers on the different sides take turns reading 
these decisions to the judge. Sometimes the judge has to 
sit and listen for a whole day, sometimes even a whole 
week, to this reading, although his salary is usually only 
$2,500 a year. 

Some law libraries cost $4,000, but you can get a pretty 
good library for $600. Of course, one man can never 
read all his books, and sometimes a law book remains on 
the shelf, gathering dust, for twenty years without ever 
being opened. One book, however, may be worth hun¬ 
dreds of dollars for just one case, and then never needed 
again. When your attorney represents you in court you 
are called his client; you are responsible for what he does. 
He is also responsible to you. 

It is a fine thing to know some law; but it is a much 
finer thing to know some of the general principles of law. 
You will probably find something on that subject in your 
civil government. Be sure to attend court the next chance 
you have. Just to saunter into the court room and take 
a back seat won’t do you any good. Select a day when a 


18 


certain trial will occur. Learn something about the case, 
go early, stay till it is through. It will be worth your 
while. 

COUNTY OFFICIALS 

The following is a table of the county officials and their 
salaries in the county of 21,000 population. The salary 
increases with the population. The term of their office is 
also indicated: 

Auditor.$2,400 a year. 4 years 

Clerk. 2,200 a year. 4 years 

Sheriff. 2,000 a year. 2 years 

Treasurer. 1,900" a year. 2 years 

Recorder. 1,500 a year. 4 years 

Commissioner. 400 per year. 3 years 

County Assessor. ... 850 a year. 4 years 

County Council. 15 per year. 4 years 

Drainage Commissioner 3 a day... 2 years 

Superintendent. 4.50 per day (all counties) 4 years 

Truant Officer. 2 per day (all counties) 1 year 

The name indicates the general nature of the duties of 
the office. Each will be discussed more fully later. Each 
has a room or office in the courthouse with name on the 
office door for the benefit of the public. 

I he Auditor and the County Commissioners have con¬ 
trol of most of the public business. 

The Clerk of the Court keeps the Court records. 

The Sheriff arrests criminals, summons juries and wit¬ 
nesses, and is the peace officer of the County, and keeps 
the jail. 

| he 1 1 easurer has charge of the County ? s tax money, 
which we pay to him. 




















19 


The Recorder keeps a record of the deeds of land and 
of mortgages. 

The County Superintendent issues teachers’ license and 
visits the schools, and issues diplomas to common school 
graduates. 

The Truant Officer is required to see that all children 
from seven to fourteen are in school all the time. 

The Commissioners are the overseers and paymasters of 
the county. 

The County Council determine how much money they 
will let the Commissioners spend in a year. 

The County Assessor reviews the reports of the Township 
Assessors to see if they have overlooked anything or taxed 
any property too low or too high. 

TOWNSHIP OFFICERS. 

Trustee, four years, $300 to $1,500; $2 per day. 

Advisoiy Board, four years, $5 a year. 

Assessor, four years, $2.50 a day, for seventy-five days, 
in township of less than 5,000, up to $2,500 a year in town¬ 
ships of over 100,000. 

Road Supervisors, two years, $1.50 a day. 

Constable, two years, fees. 

Justice of the Peace, four years, fees. 

TAXATION. 

Before going into the details of the conduct of our public 
offices we will first see how the money is obtained from the 
people for the purpose of carrying on our public business, 
for no government can be carried on without money, and a 
government can get no money except from its people, in 
the form of taxes. 

Every honest man pays taxes in proportion to the value 
of his possession. Each year the township Assessor goes 


20 


to every man and takes down in writing a list of the arti¬ 
cles of property he owns, live stock, wagons, books, ma¬ 
chinery, money, notes, mortgages, etc., and estimates their 
value. The citizen who gives the assessor a list of his prop¬ 
erty must swear that it is a true statement of all he has, 
so help him God, although some dishonest men keep back 
more than half their property. Thus they swear a lie. 
What is it to swear a lie? It is perjury. If they are 
caught at this game they must pay all the back tax for this 
property, and pay a fine of not less than $50 nor more 
than $5,000 into the county treasury. 

Property is hardly ever assessed at more than two-thirds 
of its actual value unless the property is actual money. 
Though you pay your taxes all in one sum it is divided up 
into several different funds, such as the school tax, 
township tax, State tax, road tax, etc. The County 
Treasurer distributes your money out into its sep¬ 
arate funds. All the different funds together call 
for a tax rate of about 2 per cent. Thus if your 
property is worth $1,500 you are assessed at $1,000 
and your tax is $20 a year. You can pay half of 
it before the first Monday in May, and the other half be¬ 
fore the first Monday in November. If you don’t pay the 
first half on time, 10 per cent, is added to the whole 
amount. If not paid in November it is marked delinquent 
and your land is advertised in two of the county news¬ 
papers as being for sale for taxes and a similar notice is 
posted in the Court House, the sale to begin on the second 
Monday in February. It is sold to the highest bidder. If 
you let some other man bid it off he pays the taxes and gets 
the land at his bid. Or sometimes a part is sold to the per¬ 
son offering to pay the tax for the least part of the land. 

You can, however, redeem it at any time within two 
years by paying the back tax and all the costs of the ad- 


21 


vertising and selling. You must also pay to the purchaser 
10 per cent, additional if redeemed within six months, 15 
per cent, if redeemed after six months and in less than 
one year, and 25 per cent, if redeemed after the lapse of 
one year. So it pays to be punctual. If you cultivate the 
habit of never allowing yourself to be tardy at school nor 
at any place of business you will never let your land be 
sold for delinquent taxes. 

Yet, I knew a boy once who was at school very early ev¬ 
ery day and yet was nearly always tardy—with his lessons. 

Each man under 50 years of age pays a poll tax of $2 
to $2.50. 

Each owner of a dog must pay a tax of $1 on him, 
whether the dog is worth three cents or not; and a tax 
of $2 on each additional dog he owns besides the first one. 
The tax on a good horse is only about a dollar. The dog 
tax goes into a fund to pay the stock-owners for stock 
killed by dogs. This fund is always a little more than pays 
for the sheep killed in the State and helps out the school 
fund besides. So dogs are of some use after all—to the 
public. But their board bill is high for their owners. You 
scarcely ever see a gang of dogs at a rich man's house, but 
you see sheep in his fields, for some other man’s dog to 
kill. Did you ever know a man or boy to admit that his 
own dog killed sheep? 

Some one get an inventory sheet from the Township 
Assessor, bring it to school and assess some one, but don’t 
make the assessment too high. 

THE COUNTY TREASURER. 

The County Treasurer has a great deal to do with all 
this tax business we have been talking about. But he does 
not fix the rates of taxation. If your taxes are too low, 


22 


therefore, do not criticise the Treasurer, but the Commis¬ 
sioners, or the Assessor, or the Trustee. Better still, don’t 
criticise any one till sure you’re right, then go ahead, as 
Davy Crockett used to say. When you pay him your 
taxes, be sure to get your tax receipt—a slip of paper 
signed by the Treasurer showing just what you have paid. 
Do this before leaving the office. The Treasurer and his 
clerks stand behind the counters just like cashiers in a 
bank. 

As the end of the tax-paying time draws near, the of¬ 
fice is crowded every day by persons who must wait their 
turn, and are impatient for fear they will become de¬ 
linquent. 

Have you thought of anything else to be said about the 
Treasurer? Well, he must give a very large bond before 
he can take charge of his office. A large number of citi¬ 
zens who own real estate, must sign an agreement to pay 
the county all the tax money if the Treasurer runs off with 
it, which he sometimes does. His bond is from $100,000 
to $1,000,000. Always vote for an honest man for 
Treasurer. 

In addition to the salary, the Treasurer also gets a cer¬ 
tain per cent, of the delinquent taxes he collects. He must 
require nonresidents to pay a license tax on a stock of 
goods which they bring in to sell; as sometimes a mer¬ 
chant sends a stock of cloaks or clothing or books into 
another county for a short time to sell cheap. Did you 
ever hear of this being done? When and where? The 
next time you go to the county seat, step into the Treas¬ 
urer’s office and see how the Treasurer looks and acts. 
Probably you know him. If so, describe him. 






25 

THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AND COUNTY COUNCIL. 

What is done with all this tax money? You say it is 
spent to pay the officers for collecting it. But who gets to 
spend it, and to say what it is spent for ? 

The law regulates part of it, and the County Commis¬ 
sioners dispose of the rest of the county funds; the town¬ 
ship trustee of the township funds, and the Legislature of 
the State funds. 

The County Council, of seven men, is a new part of 
county government that begun in Indiana in November, 
1900. The first Council was elected for two years; in 
1902 they were elected for four years and that will be the 
length of their term until the law is changed. All they 
have to do is to regulate the amount of money the Com¬ 
missioners may spend out of a certain fund. They can 
not control the Commissioners as to their manner of using 
this money. When the Council sets aside, say, $500 for 
repairing a bridge, the act is called “making an appro¬ 
priation.” 

When the citizens of any county want a bridge built 
by the county they sign a petition, asking the County 
Commissioners to build it with the public money appro¬ 
priated for that purpose. The three Commissioners meet 
on the first Monday of each month in the office of the 
County Auditor. The different petitions which have been 
left on file with the Auditor since their last meeting are 
taken up one by one and considered. 

The Board of Commissioners constitute a court of three 
to consider these petitions and all claims against the coun¬ 
ty for services performed or goods furnished. Each 
monthly meeting is called a “term of the Commissioners 7 
Court. 77 

When a petition is presented the two leading questions 
to settle are: First. Is this improvement needed by the 


26 


general public ? Second. Is there any money that can be 
used to pay for it? 

If a bridge is wanted across some stream and the Com¬ 
missioners desire to build it, the law requires them first to 
send a Surveyor or some competent person to the place to 
see, by careful measurement, just liow long a bridge is 
needed, also how long and high the grade should be. 
What kind of a bank and what it would probably cost. 
Then, if they decide it would be worth its cost to the 
county, they employ an architect to make out, in writings 
and drawings, what is called the “plans and specifications,” 
a written description of the bridge, grades, etc. This de¬ 
scription must be placed on file in the Auditor’s office. 
Then they advertise in the papers that on a certain day 
they will receive sealed bids for the work called for, and 
the man who gives a bond to build such a bridge for the 
least money, gets the job. If he doesn't do his work ac¬ 
cording to .the contract, he gets no pay, unless the Com¬ 
missioners am foolish enough to give it to him. Commis¬ 
sioners don’t like to act foolish. If two of them vote for a 
measure it is sufficient to carry it through. 

Whenever any person does any work for the county by 
contract, he presents his bill to the Commissioners for his 
pay. They allow his claim, the Auditor writes him an 
“order” or warrant which he takes to the Treasurer, and 
gets his money. All the county officers must present to 
this Board a bill for their salaries, which are payable usu¬ 
ally each three months. The County Council has more to 
say about what the Commissioners can not do than about 
what they must do with the public money. The Council 
meets in September of each year, and fixes the rate of 
county taxes, and as we said a few pages ago, the council 
appiopriates just so much money for certain purposes. 


27 


If any contractor builds a bridge for the county, after 
the bridge money is all used up, he can not sue the county 
for his pay, even though the Commissioners had hired him 
to build it, by a written contract. Neither can the Com¬ 
missioners run the county in debt without the consent of 
the County Council. So, before you loan the county any 
money or build it a bridge, make it your business to see 
that enough money has been appropriated to build the 
bridge and for that purpose, or that the Council has au¬ 
thorized the Commissioners to borrow your money. 

Before the September meeting of the Council the Com¬ 
missioners are supposed to make out a careful estimate of 
what public conveniences are needed, what they will prob¬ 
ably cost, and ask the County Council to appropriate suf¬ 
ficient money to pay for them. The Council are also 
asked to make a sufficient tax levy to raise enough money 
to satisfy the appropriation. 

The Council can not appropriate money out of the road 
fund into the school fund, nor from any fund into another. 
If there is any money left in the dog tax fund of a town¬ 
ship after paying for the sheep killed by the dogs, the 
surplus is turned into the tuition fund of the county. 
Money paid in the way of fines and forfeited bonds goes 
into the permanent State school fund to be loaned for the 
interest. We mention these items here because these 
funds are kept in charge by the County Treasurer.. 

Do you know who your County Commissioners are ? 
Or any members of the County Council? You might elect 
a Board of Commissioners of some of your classmates, who 
would transact some public business—grant a liquor li¬ 
cense, or a petition to build a bridge, or give consent to 
put telephone poles along the public highway. 

The law allows the Commissioners to employ a County 
Attorney to advise them as to the law on doubtful ques¬ 
tions. 


28 


The Auditor keeps a detailed record of all the pro¬ 
ceedings of the Commissioners’ Court. By going to his 
office you can find a record of their doings clear back to 
the early history of your county. 

LIQUOR LICENSE. 

Some more of the Commissioners’ jurisdiction as a 
court is the granting or denying of liquor license. When 
any citizen desires a liquor license he obtains it from the 
County Commissioners in the following manner: He pub¬ 
lishes a notice for three weeks in some weekly newspaper 
published in the county, that at a certain monthly term of 
the Commissioners’ Court he will apply for license to sell 
liquor in a certain described building in some certain town 
or city (naming it). Then he must prove to the Commis¬ 
sioners that he is of good moral character, and must give 
a $2,000 bond to pay all fines for any violations of the 
liquor laws, and to pay damages for any injuries that re¬ 
sult from improper management of his business. The 
Commissioners must see' that these requirements have 
been complied with before they issue the applicant a li¬ 
cense—a sheet of paper about a foot square authorizing 
him to sell liquors and permit them to be drunk on his 
premises. Then the applicant pays the Treasurer $100 
and the Auditor issues him his license, good for just one 
year. 

In some towns and in nearly all cities a saloonkeeper is 
also required to take out a town or city license, but the 
Commissioners have nothing to do with this part of it. 
The $100 paid to the Treasurer goes into the county tui¬ 
tion fund to be distributed out among the different town¬ 
ships and city schools. 

The Government also gets a license fee of $25. The 
town license fee and city license fee go into the general 


29 


treasury of the town or city to be used for whatever want¬ 
ed. Cities may charge as high as $250 a year; incorpo¬ 
rated towns $150. Both usually charge the full limit. 

A city of 4,000 people is likely to have fifteen saloons, 
paying $250 each, or $3,750. A tax of 93 cents apiece on 
the people would raise this same sum without any saloons 
at all. Some would rather pay the 93 cents or even 95 
cents and do without saloons. Others think we could 
scarcely get along without them. 


REMONSTRANCE. 

If a majority of the citizens of any township or city 
ward object to a saloon being conducted in their com¬ 
munity, they can remonstrate in writing and prevent it. 
Or any legal voter may remonstrate alone and defeat the 
application by showing that the applicant is unfit to be en¬ 
trusted with the sale of intoxicating liquor. 

When they see in the paper that notice we spoke of a 
while ago announcing that some one is making application 
for a license they may sign a written remonstrance or ob¬ 
jection and send it to the County Auditor three days be¬ 
fore the first Monday of the month in which the applica¬ 
tion is to be heard. Then the Commissioners can not 
grant the license. 

The citizens of a city ward may remonstrate in the 
same manner. 

Did you ever see in any county paper a “Notice of Ap¬ 
plication V It must be in a paper published in that coun¬ 
ty; in a weekly paper, except in cities of over 10,000, 
where they may give notice in a daily paper. So you see 
the importance of reading your county papers. Some¬ 
times the citizens who are opposed to saloons all authorize 


30 


one man to sign all their names to a “blanket” remon¬ 
strance. This is called “signing by power of attorney.” 

Did you ever hear of this being done ? 

RECORDER. 

When you buy a jack knife or a bicycle or a book, you 
simply pay the money, take the goods, and the trade is 
over—unless you bought those necessary articles on cred¬ 
it. In the latter case the merchant charges the account on 
his books or takes your note. But if you buy a piece of 
land you will want the owner to give you a written deed 
for it and guarantee that he and none other has a right to 
sell it to you. He must sign this deed in the presence of a 
notary public, or a justice of the peace or a city mayor. 
Then you take the deed to the office of the County Re¬ 
corder in the court house and have him record it. That 
is, he copies it down in a big book for that purpose. In 
each County Recorder’s office in this State you will find a 
big stack of such books, written full of the copies of deeds. 
He charges you $1 for copying it. You also pay the 
Auditor 10 cents for making a notice of the “transfer of 
ownership” on his tax books. 

You notice in the county papers each week, “Real Es¬ 
tate Transfers.” This means sales of land. Land and 
whatever is growing or built upon it is real estate. All 
other property is called “personal property.” If you don’t 
pay for the land at the time you buy it, you give the seller 
a mortgage on it and it is his business to get that mort¬ 
gage recorded, which will cost him $1. But what is the use 
of all this copying by an official ? 

If the mortgage and the deed get lost the public rec¬ 
ords in the court house will show who owns each tract of 
land in the county. Never buy a farm or a lot without 



JAMES A. HEMENWAY, R., 
United States Senator from Indiana. 



JNO. H. FOSTER, R., 
Congressman First District. 










33 


first going to the Recorder’s office to see if there is any 
mortgage on the real estate, or whether yon are paying 
the right party for it. Better require the seller to furnish 
you an “abstract,” which is a copy of all the deeds ever 
made for that land from the time the United States sold 
it to its first white owner and old settler. 

The Recorder takes no part in managing the affairs of 
his county. He handles no funds, except the fees, which 
belong to the county. He just copies down whatever peo¬ 
ple bring in. His salary is fixed by law according to the 
population of the county. Where the population is about 
25,000 he gets about $1,500 a year. Who is your County 
Recorder? Who has sold any land near here lately ? De¬ 
scribe the necessary transactions in closing the affair. 

AUDITOR. 

As you have already noticed, the Auditor’s duties are 
prettly largely connected with those of Recorder, Treas¬ 
urer, Sheriff and Commissioners. He has, however, some 
special duties and powers of his own. For instance, if any 
township trustee dies or resigns or goes insane the Audi¬ 
tor at once appoints another man to fill the vacancy. He 
has the same powers as to township assessor. He has charge 
of the permanent school fund of the county, and persons who 
desire to borrow from it must deal altogether with the 
Auditor. He receives the report of the township assessors. 

If the Commissioners are in session when the vacancy 
occurs, they make the appointment. 

When any one owes the county for borrowed school 
fund or interest on the school fund, he must pay the 
money to the Treasurer and bring the Treasurer’s receipt 
to the Auditor, who then gives him a “quietus,” which is 
the receipt that counts, for the receipt is worthless with¬ 
out the quietus. When the county owes any one, the 


34 


creditor must have his claim allowed by the Board of 
Commissioners, and the Auditor then issues him a warrant 
for the amount on the Treasurer, who will pay him his 
money. The Auditor gives notice of the holding of all 
elections to aid railroads, and publishes a list of the prop¬ 
erties each year on which the taxes are delinquent (un¬ 
paid). But the largest and most important work of the 
Auditor is keeping account of all funds which are re¬ 
ceived and paid out by the Treasurer, and keeping the rec¬ 
ords of the transactions of the County Commissioners, 
and the making of the tax duplicate. In a county where 
the population is about 25,000 his salary is about $2,400. 
Who is your present County Auditor? Find out by to¬ 
morrow morning. 

COUNTY CLERK. 

The Clerk’s chief duties are discussed under the topic 
of “Courts and Proceedings.” In fact he is the Clerk of 
the Court. ITe issues all marriage licenses, appoints all 
administrators of estate, when court is not in session, ap¬ 
points appraisers for estates, records all wills, appoints 
guardians for minor children, subject to approval of the 

judge. Quakers, or “Friends” are not required to have a 
marriage license. 

lie also preserves the records of all court proceedings 
and all election returns. It takes two persons to run the 
office. The average salary is about $2,200, when the 
population is 25,000. 

SHERIFF. 

The Sheriff is the executive officer of the county. He 
is the man who must arrest burglars, horse thieves, mur¬ 
derers and all other criminals. His duties are also de¬ 
scribed in the chapter on “Courts.” He attends all ses- 


35 


sions of the Circuit and Commissioners’ Court. He sum¬ 
mons jurymen, posts notices of elections, puts down pub¬ 
lic riots and is the general peace officer of the county. He 
resides at the county jail. If he permits a mob to lynch 
a prisoner his office becomes vacant, unless he can show 
to the Governor that he did his whole duty to protect the 
prisoner from the mob. As he has a right to confine the 
prisoner in any jail in the State out of the reach of the 
mob he is almost inexcusable for ever allowing a prisoner 
to be lynched. Mobs generally freeze out in three or four 
days. Who is your present sheriff? Would he break up 
a mob do you think? 

COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT. 

The highest educational officer in each county is called 
the County Superintendent of Public Instruction. No 
one can teach in any school of the county unless the Coun¬ 
ty Superintendent grants him a teacher’s license. The ex¬ 
ceptions to this rule are graduates of the State Normal 
School, who hold a State license for life, and those who 
hold a license issued by the State Superintendent 

The County Superintendent settles disputes between a 
trustee and the citizens of a township as to the location 
of a new school house. He also issues diplomas to the 
graduates of the common school course. The law makes 
it his duty to visit the schools of the county each year, and 
allovrs him a salary of $4.50 a day for the time actually 
busy at school affairs. It requires part of his time to 
grade the manuscripts of teachers who take the examina¬ 
tion for license, and of graduates. 

Under the new school law he orders the school text¬ 
books for the county. 


36 


Do you know who have been the County Superintend¬ 
ents of this county ? Did you ever see any of them when 
they visited your school? 

The Superintendent is elected for a term of four years 
by the township trustees of the county on the first Mon¬ 
day of June. This began in 1899. Before that time they 
were elected in the same way, at the same time, but for 
only two years. 

No one is eligible to be elected Superintendent who does 
not hold either a three years’ State license, a sixty months’ 
lincese, or a life license. The law was passed in 1905. 

The law says the County Superintendent “shall re¬ 
ceive no perquisites whatever.” This means that he shall 
not charge any extras outside of his salary. He must not 
charge a teacher for a license or a pupil for a diploma. 
No self-respecting person will offer a superintendent any 
“perquisites.” 

In most counties they charge each teacher an institute 
fee of 50 to 75 cents. This creates an institute fund of 
$75 to $150. Then the county must give him $50 to 
$100 for this fund, according to the number of teachers 
enrolled at the Institute. With all or part of this he em¬ 
ploys persons to conduct each year a county institute last¬ 
ing one week—usually in July or August. All teachers 
are expected to attend this. It is a good deal like school. 
Some institutes are good; others poor, owing to whether 
the Superintendent secures good or poor instructors. The 
great work for the Superintendent is to keep bad people 
from teaching, and the schools supplied with good 
teachers. 

A right industrious County Superintendent is worth 
$15,000 a year to the county. One who does not attend 
to his duties isn’t worth verv much. 

•j 




37 


But their salaries are all the same, $4.50 a day. This 
makes about $1,400 a year. The county furnishes the 
postage and an office room. If ever you (if you are a 
boy), or your husband (if you are a girl), should be a 
township trustee be mighty careful what you do when a 
County Superintendent is to be elected. 

If you are ever elected a member of the Legislature I 
want you to vote to repeal the law which makes the Su¬ 
perintendent the purchasing agent for school books. It 
takes his time, which he could much better spend, and 
would much rather spend, in superintending the schools of 
his county. Almost any bookkeeper could see after this, 
but not everybody is capable of being a good County Su¬ 
perintendent. 


TRUANT OFFICER. 

Since 1897 Indiana has had a compulsory education 
law. We now have in each county an official to see that 
this law is enforced. He is called the County Truant Of¬ 
ficer. It is his duty to prosecute parents who refuse to 
let their children go to school. A parent or guardian 
must keep his children, between 7 and 14 years of age, in 
school all the time school is in session in his district or 
city. The Truant Officer is elected each May by the 
township trustees and presidents of City School Boards. 
His salary is $2 a dav. 

Perhaps you have never seen a Truant Officer nor heard 
of his looking after truant children. It is perhaps in some 
other township than your own that he has been busy. He 
has been at work somewhere for he never loses a day and 
draws pay for about 140 days’ service each year. By to¬ 
morrow morning see if you can learn the name of the pres¬ 
ent Truant Officer and his postoffice address. If you know 


38 


of any children who are growing up in ignorance write him 
a letter telling him about it—no difference what grade you 
are in at school. What a bad thing it is for any young 
person to grow up in ignorance—but the law blames the 
parent, instead of the child, and that is right, isn’t it? The 
boy or girl who loafs around instead of going to school 
doesn’t realize what an education is till it is too late. It 
is the Truant Officer’s duty to prosecute the parent after 
you write him that such parent is violating the law. Many 
men have been fined, and some sent to jail for keeping 
their children out of school. Some people say it isn’t any¬ 
body’s business if a father keeps his children out of school. 
Among hogs and cattle it doesn’t make much difference to 
one of the drove what another one does, but among men 
and women it is everybody’s business what every one else 
does. So write your letter even if some one says “mind 
your own business.” If you don’t tell anybody that you 
are going to do so, nobody will know it. Always help 
carry out all the laws of your State and country. That is 
better patriotism than to wave the flag of your country 
and then disregard the laws. Write your letter this way: 

Dear Mr. Truant Officer: 

Little Johnny (or Mary) So and So belongs to our dis¬ 
trict and is not attending school anywhere. lie is .... 
years old. His father is living, but pays no attention to 
him and says people already have too much education. 
Please come down tomorrow and get after the old man 
with a sharp stick. 

Yours truly, 

Wiggly Willie. 

Do you believe in a law that compels parents to send 
their children to school when they can’t get good clothes ? 


39 


The wild savage races of the Pacific Islands have no 
schools, but their country is controlled by other govern¬ 
ments that do have schools. If a citizen is too sick or too 
lazy to get clothes and books for his children will it cost 
any more for them to go to school and warm by the fire 
than to shiver at home, or hunt rabbits, or loaf on the 
store boxes? Think on the matter before answering:. 

CORONER. 

The people usually elect a physician to the office of Cor¬ 
oner. His chief duty is to hold “inquests’ 7 over the bodies 
of persons who have met death by violence or from any 
unknown cause, and to determine what was probably the 
direct and indirect cause of death. The inquest is some¬ 
what like a trial in a Justice’s Court. The Coroner may 
summon witnesses and have them testify. lie generally 
asks a clerk to take down their testimony in writing and 
has the witness sworn to the written statement. If the 
Coroner finds that any person has criminally caused the 
death, he issues a warrant for such person’s arrest, and 
causes him to be sent to jail to await the action of the 
grand jury. 

Witnesses in a Coroner’s inquest receive 75 cents a day 
and 5 cents per mile necessarily traveled—paid by the 
county. The Coroner may deputize any justice in the 
county to hold an inquest for him. 

If the Sheriff of the county dies or resigns the Coroner 
becomes Sheriff for the remainder of the Sheriff’s term. 
The Coroner is the official who must serve the writ when 
the Sheriff is to be arrested. 

COUNTY SURVEYOR. 

People would not notice much difference if this office 
did not exist. His compensation consists in fees. But 


40 


landowners can employ other surveyors at the same fees. 
Th County Commissioners, however, usually employ the 
County Surveyor to do the surveying desired by the coun¬ 
ty. He locates boundary lines between farms, runs the 
line of public ditches and highways. 

THE GRAND JURY. 

You have no doubt often heard people say that some¬ 
body’s meanness ought to be reported to the Grand Jury. 
Probably you or some of your neighbors have been sum¬ 
moned to appear before the Grand Jury to tell what you 
know of violations of the law down in your neighborhood. 
The Grand Jury is always composed of six men of the 
county. They meet in a room in the court house, lock the 
doors, and admit one person at a time, and force him to 
answer, if he can, whatever questions they or the prose¬ 
cutor asks him about violations of the law. 

Before they begin their wmrk they must come into the 
court room where the Judge instructs them how to pro¬ 
ceed. 

He orders them to investigate fearlessly and impar¬ 
tially, and to indict each and every man who seems to be 
guilty of any crime or misdemeanor. They then must 
take oath that they will do so. Then they and the prose¬ 
cutor give to the Sheriff the name of every person they 
want, who they think can disclose any crime and the 
Sheriff summons the parties to appear before the Grand 
Jury. Very often the person summoned doesn’t know 
what is wanted of him, but must go or he is liable to be 
arrested and fined for contempt of court. People who 
want crime prosecuted often write letters to the prosecu¬ 
tor, telling who would probably be good witnesses. And 
these witnesses are summoned. Ho one ever knows exact- 



JOHN C. CHANEY, R., 
Congressman Second District. 






WM. T. ZENOR, D., 
Congressman Third District. 





JOHN C. CHANEY, R., 
Congressman Second District. 





WM. T. ZENOR, D., 
Congressman Third District. 









43 


ly what is done by a Grand Jury nor how it is done. The 
door is always guarded by a bailiff. When he sends a 
witness into the room one of the grand jurymen, called 
the “foreman,” has him take an oath to answer truly all 
interrogatories and not divulge anything which transpires. 
If he comes out and tells what was said he is liable to a 
heavy fine. If a witness testifies that he saw Henry Dale 
steal something, or try to steal it, or burn a house, or 
beat a horse cruelly, or disturb a civil meeting, the Grand 
Jury indicts him. That is, they write out a “true bill,” 
as it is called, charging him with the offense, and hand 
this bill to the Clerk. At least five of the Grand Jury 
must concur in an indictment before it can be returned, 
and the “bill” must be signed by the foreman. The Clerk 
then writes out a warrant for his arrest and hands it to 
the Sheriff, who arrests him. Henry Dale must then ei¬ 
ther go to jail or give bond. That is, must give security 
that he will either remain and stand trial or pay a certain 
sum of money. Sometimes the Sheriff doesn’t arrest him, 
because Henry Dale is not to be found, but has gone West 
for his health when the Grand Jury meets. 

If you want to prosecute a criminal and the Grand Jury 
is not in session, you can do so by affidavit and informa¬ 
tion bv the help of the Prosecuting Attorney. Who is 
he? How is the Grand Jury chosen? 

HOW JURIES ARE DRAWN. 

Efeich year the judge appoints two freeholders, well 
known to be of opposite politics, as jury commissioners to 
serve during the following calendar year. Such jury com¬ 
missioners, after taking an oath to select only such men 
for jurymen as they believe to be of good repute for hon¬ 
esty and intelligence, and not to select any who has asked 


44 


to be selected, proceed to take from the names on the tax 
duplicate twice as many jurymen as are required for both 
grand and petit jury for all the terms of court to be held 
in the county within the year. They shall write each 
man’s name on a separate slip of paper and place the slips 
in a box and deliver the box locked to the Clerk of the 
Court. The Commissioner whose politics is opposite that 
of the Clerk shall keep the key. 

The jury commissioners must also be careful to select 
men who are voters in the county and who are either free¬ 
holders (land owners) or householders (married men). 

Within a week before the commencement of a term of 
court the Clerk has the Commissioner with the key to 
shake the box well and open it. The Clerk then draws out 
six slips of paper, one at a time. The names on the slips 
aie the names of the six men who are to be the grand 
jurors. Then he draws twelve more names for the twelve 
members of the petit or trial jury. 

The sheriff summons these jurymen to come to court 
whenever the judge so orders. 

Jurymen receive $2 a day and 5 cents for each mile 
necessarily traveled, to be paid out of the county treasury. 

If a citizen applies to be a member of the jury or re¬ 
quests any one to procure him a place on either grand or 
petit jury he is liable to a fine for contempt of court. 


COURTS AND COURT PROCEEDINGS—CIVIL CASES. 

What are courts for, anyway? They furnish the way 
for you to obtain those rights which the law says you 
are entitled to. All the laws in the world could do you 

no good if there were not courts to start them in motion 
for you and other persons. 



45 


If a man has borrowed money of you and won’t pay it 
back, or has bought something of you and now wonff 
pay you for it, how are you going to get your money? 
You answer that you will sue him. So you will sue him, 
will you? If you go and show him the law that says he 
has to pay it, that still doesn’t get you the money. Well, 
then, let’s sue him and get it by law. You must do it all 
in writing. You first get your attorney (or you may be 
your own attorney) to write your complaint, as it is called. 
The complaint must say that Mr. A. owes you a certain 
amount of money, which is now due and unpaid. If he 
gave you his note, say so, and copy the words and figures 
of the note into your complaint, and in it also ask the court 
to award you a certain amount and costs. Your com¬ 
plaint might read: 

State of Indiana, In the.... Circuit Court. 

-County. -Term, 1903. 

John Doe vs. Richard Roe. 

The plaintiff complains of the defendant and says, 
that the defendant on the 30th day of March, 1902, 
bought of plaintiff a horse for which defendant agreed 
to pay $150 and gave his promissory note therefor due 
one day after date. That said note is due and unpaid 
and a copy of said note, marked exhibit “A” is made a 
part of this complaint. Wherefore plaintiff demands 
judgment for $200 and costs and all other proper relief. 


Plaintiff. 

Before you read any further guess how you are ever 
going to get this to the attention of the court (the Judge). 
Court is in session only certain months each year in most 
counties. 



46 


The law requires the Clerk to keep his office open 
all day every working day in the year. You take your 
written complaint to the Clerk and hand it to him, saying, 
“I wish to file this complaint.” It is almost like mailing 
a letter. Don’t try to tell the Clerk what is in the com¬ 
plaint, for he doesn’t care. You are not the first person 
who has ever filed a complaint. He cares no more about 
it than the postmaster cares what is in a letter you are 
mailing. But you haven’t got your money yet. How¬ 
ever, you go home and let the matter rest for a while. 
You have written on the back of your complaint the day 
that he is to appear in court. He is called the defendant, 
and you the plaintiff, because you are complaining and 
he must defend. 

In due time the Clerk writes out a slip called a “sum¬ 
mons” and hands to the Sheriff. It reads, “To the Sheriff 

of.County: You are hereby commanded to 

summons Richard Roe (or whoever it is that owes you) 

to appear in the.Circuit Court on the 

.day (whatever day you have named, just so you 

have given him ten days’ notice) and answer the complaint 
of (your name) wherein he claims the sum of $200. 

Signed,. 

Clerk. 

The Sheriff then goes out to hunt up this defendant 
to read him this summons and “return” the summons to 
the Clerk. If the defendant does not appear on the day 
set you may take a “default” against him. If he never 
appears, the Judge renders a judgment against him. 

But you still haven’t got your money. The judgment 
in your favor doesn’t authorize you to go and take his 
corn or horses or piano. The Clerk will then give the 
Sheriff an execution—an order for the Sheriff to levy on 






47 


defendant’s property. After giving ten days’ public and 
written notice the Sheriff may sell at auction to the high¬ 
est bidder and pay you the amount he owes and give the 
defendant the remainder, if any is left. If he is a mar¬ 
ried man who owes you, the law allows him to keep $600 
worth of property, no difference how much he owes. So 
be careful about loaning money or selling on credit to 
married men. But now suppose that you haven’t his note, 
and suppose he claims that he doesn’t owe you but $40, 
how are you going to get your money ? When he appears 
in court to deny some part of it, he denies by filing his 
‘‘answer.” Each party then names the witnesses to prove 
his side of the case and the Judge sets a day for trial. The 
Sheriff subpoenas the witnesses and they must all take an 
oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but 
the truth, so help them God. You, being the plaintiff, 
will go on the witness stand first. Your lawyer will sit 
near and ask you to state to the judge or jury all the facts 
of the transaction with defendant. He will ask you a great 
many questions. Witnesses are asked to tell where they 
live, what their business is, and sometimes their age. Men 
and boys don’t care, but girls of 22 sometimes object. 
When the lawyer has asked you all he cares to you must 
then answer a good many questions by the defendant’s 
lawyer, who is likely to be a very bad man. This is called 
cross-examination. You don’t have to answer his ques¬ 
tions except on matters which your own lawyer asked you 
about. 

The Judge decides whether a witness has to answer 
a question, and if he refuses when the judge orders him 
to answer he will pretty likely be fined or sent to jail 
for contempt of court. If one of the witnesses who was 
present at the horse trade swears a falsehood against you 
he is guilty of perjury, and it is your duty to send him to 


48 


the penitentiary for two years and have him lined a thou* 
sand dollars. This is very much easier said than done. 
After you and your witnesses have told almost everything 
you know the defendant and his witnesses testify. Then 
the lawyers argue the case just like debating the question 
at school, “Which is the more useful, the horse or the 
cow?” I had forgotten to say that if either side demands 
a jury the trial must be conducted in the presence of a 
jury of twelve men, who must be either married or the 
owner of land. By agreement of all interested parties 
the jury may be a less number. So you see what is nec¬ 
essary for you to serve on a jury. Then the lawyers make 
their speeches to the jury, but the Judge remains present 
to see that lawyers do not ask improper questions nor 
say improper things. 

Most trials are held in the big room of the court 
house, called the Court Boom. You have been there, 
haven’t you? All courts must be open to the public. You 
can go quietly in at any time and observe the proceedings. 
Do you know who is the Judge for your county? Or the 
Prosecuting Attorney? 

The costs in a suit mean the fees charged by the 
Clerk and Sheriff, and the witnesses. The losing party 
in a lawsuit is supposed to have been in the wrong, there¬ 
fore responsible for the lawsuit, and must pay the costs. 
But if you sue for $150, and the defendant offers to pay 
$40, and the judge or jury finds that he owes you but $35, 
then you must pay all the costs. The costs run from $10 
to $30, outside the witness fees. Witnesses are allowed 
$1.25 a day and 5 cents a mile for the round trip from 
their home to the county seat. 

The court 1 have just described, which is car¬ 
ried on at the county court house, is called the Circuit 
Court. So when you hear men say they will sue in the 


49 


Circuit Court they mean they will go to the county seat 
and file their complaint with the County Clerk and have 
the Sheriff notify the witnesses and defendant. 

If either party is dissatisfied with the decision he can 
appeal to the Supreme or Appellate Courts as explained 
in the chapter on “Laws, Lawyers and Practice.” All 
verdicts in a justice of the peace court may be appealed 
to the Circuit Court and tried as a new case. 

If you sue for a small amount and want to give your 
neighbors something to talk about, you will probably sue 
before a justice of the peace—’Squire So and So. 

He is a one-horse judge and the constable is his sher¬ 
iff. The justice is his own clerk. Either side may de¬ 
mand a jury—usually a jury of six—and the loser pays 
the costs. You can sue for amounts below $200 in a 
justice’s court. The justice can administer oaths, acknowl¬ 
edge deeds, and solemnize marriage contracts, but can not 
grant divorces. 

All suits for money or for right of way, etc., are 
called civil suits. We can’t put a man in jail in this coun¬ 
try for debt, but we can for crime. Any case in which 
a man may be punished in any way is called a “Criminal 
Case,” or “State’s Case,” even if the fine is only one cent. 
When Henry Dale gets drunk in public and creates a dis¬ 
turbance, he violates the criminal law and commits a mis¬ 
demeanor, but he doesn’t thereby become indebted to any¬ 
one for $5, but owes the State. Any boy or girl or man 
or woman may go before a justice of the peace or mayor 
and make an affidavit that such is true. The affidavit 
reads: 

State of Indiana, .County, ss: 

State of Indiana vs. Henry Dale. 

Weary Willie being duly sworn upon his oath says, 
that in said county on or about the 20th of January, 1903, 




50 


Henry Dale was then and there unlawfully found in a 
state of intoxication in a public place, towit: The Main 
street of Ueedmore. 

Weary Willie. 

Subscribed and sworn before me this 22d day of 
January, 1903. 

I. G., Justice of the Peace. 

The justice must issue a warrant which reads: 

State of Indiana, .. County, ss: 

To any constable of.county, you are 

hereby commanded to arrest Henry Dale and bring him 
forthwith before me to answer the charge of being drunk, 
etc. 

When Henry arrives the justice pushes back his spec¬ 
tacles and asks: “What answer do you make, guilty or 
not guilty?” If he answers guilty the justice must im¬ 
pose a fine and charge him up with the costs. Henry 
must pay the bill, or stay it or go to jail and stay as many 
da vs as he owes dollars. 

t/ 

All this prosecution may be done in the Circuit Court 
just as easily as in a justice's court. If he pleads not 
guilty he doesn’t have to prove that he was not drunk; 
nor anything else. The State, or prosecution must prove 
beyond all reasonable doubt that he was drunk or the 
justice must acquit him, that is, set him free and tell him 
to go about his business. A man can not be punished 
for refusing to testify against himself, and the law gives 
the accused person the benefit of every doubt. 

If a person is arrested for a crime or misdemeanor 
when court is not in session, he can not have his trial 
at that time. Unless charged with murder he can give 
bond or bail if friends will sign it and thus remain free 




51 


till time for the trial. This bond is a written guarantee 
that he will not run away but will stay and stand his trial 
even if he has to go to the penitentiary. If his bond 
is $1,000, and he runs away, the county first takes his 
property for the bond, and if that doesn’t bring $1,000 
his bondsmen must come in and pay the remainder. The 
bond money goes to the school fund. 

The jurisdiction or authority of each judge extends 
over what is called a judicial district. This may be one 
or more counties according to population. About 50,000 
inhabitants is an average district population. In each dis¬ 
trict a judge is elected every six years. A prosecuting 
attorney is elected every two years; it is his duty to pros¬ 
ecute all criminals. He receives a salary of $500 a year 
from the State and a fee of $5 from every person con¬ 
victed of misdemeanor—unless the prisoner lays out his 
fine in jail. Then the prosecutor loses his fee. In certain 
cases in Circuit Court he gets $7.50. 

When the defendant in a divorce suit is unable to 
employ a lawyer to prevent the divorce the prosecutor 
must act as defendant’s attorney if requested to do so. 
When a prosecutor dies or resigns the Governor appoints 
some attorney to fill the vacancy. He generally has a 
deputy in each township who may claim a fee of $5 for 
each conviction. The justice must notify him and he can 
claim his fee even if the party pleads guilty. How, just 
because you may know a little law don’t make a business 
of threatening vour friends wfith lawsuits or your friends 
will become very scarce. Laws and courts are only to be 
used as a last resort. The man who always talks of taking 
his troubles to court usually finds it a most expensive 
school of experience, where the knowledge gained is worth 
less than the tuition. The study of law is a grand and 
inspiring study. Your very freedom is guaranteed to you 



52 


by the laws of your country and State. Persons who 
know the law very rarely get into court. Still if you can’t 
get justice otherwise, then go to the law. 

CITIES. 

The law making part of a city government is the 
Common Council and the City Mayor. There are also the 
City Clerk, the City Treasurer and City Marshal, who 
have about the same duties as the corresponding officials 
in a town. A town must attain a population of 2,000 
before it can change into a city government. A city 
government has greater powers than a town government, 
and lor that reason the people of a town nearly always 
vote to adopt the city government just as soon as they 
can count enough people—2,000—sometimes before. 

The regulations passed by the Trustees of a town or 
by the City Council of a city are called ordinances. These 
are published in the papers so people will know about 
them, and are then laws for the people who live or stop 
there, just as much as the State laws. So you had better 
read the papers. In some cities and towns they fine a 
man for leaving his horse untied on the street while lie 
goes into a store to buy dry goods or wet goods, or for 
driving too fast on the streets, or riding a bicycle on 
the sidewalk, or for spitting tobacco on the sidewalk, or 
foi peddling goods without a license. Sometimes when 
a iiiai shal wants to make a few cents he arrests a stranger 
for doing some of these things, while people who live there 
do the same every day. It is a good marshal who enforces 
all the laws and ordinances. 

. When a man violates a city ordinance and is arrested, he 
is generally brought before the Mayor for trial. A rail¬ 
road company not long ago violated a city ordinance by 







55 


refusing to put a flagman at a certain street crossing to 
warn persons of approaching trains. Well, the marshal 
couldn’t arrest the railroad. But the city notified the rail¬ 
road agent of the town (the ticket agent and telegraph 
operator) to appear in court. The Mayor inflicted a heavy 
fine upon the road and they had to pay it or the city would 
have taken possession of one or more of its trains, arrested 
the men who tried to take the train away and put them 
into the jail or calaboose. 

A city may build or purchase an electric light plant, a 
system of water works and furnish these necessaries to the 
people. Or they may charter a private person to do so. 

The city schools are entirely controlled by a board of 
three school trustees, elected by the Council. They 
usually employ a City Superintendent to make the course 
of study and assume general control of all the schools of 
the city. 

If you can conveniently do so visit two or three Council 
meetings in succession. Go early and stay till the meeting 
adjourns. 


TOWNS. 

In the county are a number of small towns and vil¬ 
lages. You have perhaps been through several of them. 
Which ones ? Some are incorporated—that is, have a 
town government. The law making part of this govern¬ 
ment is the Board of Trustees, not less than three nor 
more than seven, elected by the people. 

The trustees may levy taxes for improvements, such 
as sidewalks, streets, public wells and electric lights, to 
provide apparatus for extinguishing fires, etc. 

The town marshal is to keep the peace, to arrest drunk 
or disorderly persons, and supervise the working of the 


56 


streets. The town clerk keeps the minutes of the trustees’ 
meetings and the town treasurer has charge of the town 
funds. When a peddler or an auctioneer wishes to sell 
goods at the houses or upon the street he often has to 
go to the clerk and obtain a license to do so. It costs a 
man about a dollar for the privilege of selling a wagon 
load of watermelons on the streets unless he has raised 
them himself. Of course he can sell to merchants without 
any license. A town may also have a board of three school 
trustees, but if the population is less than 1,500 they may 
leave the school to be controlled and supported by the 
township trustee. 

THE POOR HOUSE. 

In almost every county there is a large farm known 
in law as the County Farm, but generally called by the 
people, “The Poor House.” This is kept by a superin¬ 
tendent appointed by the County Commissioners as a home 
for the aged and helpless who have no other home. The 
trustee may assist poor persons in his township to the ex¬ 
tent of $15 a year each, and by special permission of the 
commissioners may give still more. If it appears that 
such persons are likely to remain permanently “on the 
township,” that is, can never again make a living, the 
Trustees must take them to the County Farm. This is 
generally a pretty good sort of home and sometimes per¬ 
sons, just as a matter of pure laziness, go there to make 
it their home. 


TOWNSHIP TRUSTEE. 

Ho public office is more important to the people di¬ 
rectly than that of Township Trustee. All the Trustees 
of the State together are a much more important affair 
than the Governor or President. 




LINCOLN DIXON, D., 
Congressman Fourth District. 









E. S. HOLLIDAY, R., 
Congressman Fifth District. 


































































59 


The Township Trustee is the general manager, book¬ 
keeper, treasurer, educational overseer for all the people 
of the township, outside the cities and towns. While all 
these duties give him great powers, his responsibility is 
also very great, and he receives so much criticism and 
abuse and such little credit that the office ought to pay 
a great big salary. Here are some of the duties the law 
puts on him: 

He, in the first place, must keep a written record 
of all the township business. Must take charge of the 
financial affairs of the township. Receive from the County 
Treasurer all money belonging to the township and pay 
out the same according to law. 

If any Road Supervisor dies or resigns the Trustee 
must appoint someone to fill the vacancy. 

He must see that all the different township funds for 
roads, schools, poor and other purposes, be used in the 
right way, and perform all the duties which in an early 
day up to 1859 were performed by a Township Trustee, 
a Clerk and a Treasurer. 

If any property, such as road tools, school property 
or any other belongs to the township, the Trustee must 
see after its protection. 

He builds all schoolhouses, keeps the schools in session, 
purchases fuel, provides repairs, takes care of the prem¬ 
ises, in fact, the Trustee is expected to see after all the 
school affairs of every kind, and many are the tales of 
needed repairs and changes, etc., that he must listen to. 
He is by law the inspector of all elections in his precinct, 
unless some candidate on some ticket is his near kinsman 
—as near as a second cousin—in which case he is in¬ 
eligible. 

When the Trustee desires to build a bridge he may do 
so without asking the consent of anybody, except he may 


60 


ask tlie Advisory Board for an appropriation, unless the 
bridge costs more than $75. If it costs more than $75 
and less than $500, the Trustee must also have the consent 
of the County Commissioners or a township election. If 
the people of a township, however, determine to build a 
bridge which costs even more than $500, they can hold an 
election and vote for it, and if a majority favor the bridge 
the township may build it. 

The present school system of Indiana is generally con¬ 
sidered one of the best in the United States or in the 
world. The education of the people ranks very high. 
This is almost entirely the work of the past and present 
Township Trustees of the State. The influence of a Gov¬ 
ernor or a President in such matters is very small, if 
indeed they have any at all. 

The rates of the township taxes are proposed by the 
Township Trustee based upon what will probably be re¬ 
quired to carry on the needed business for the ensuing 
year. Each year early in August he makes out in writing 
what is called “Estimate of Expenditures and Tax Levies 
for the Year 190—In this he states just how much 
money is needed for each of the township funds, and 
what the rate of taxes must be to raise the money. He 
posts up a copy of this estimate in each postoffice in his 
township and publishes the same also in two papers repre¬ 
senting the two leading political parties in the county, and 
if a paper is published in the township he also publishes 
his estimates in it. 

When the Township Advisory Board of three members, 
meets on the first Tuesday of September of each year the 
Trustee places before them this estimate, together with a 
statement of the assessed valuation of all the taxable prop¬ 
erty of the township. He then shows them by items just 
what he needs which is necessarily a very extensive list 


61 


•—and the Advisory may either order the levy asked for, 
or make a different levy. The Trustee may use just what 
money is “appropriated” by the Board—that is, set aside 
—for any certain purpose. If he pays out more than this 
he does so out of his own pocket, as many Trustees have 
found out to their loss. One Trustee paid out nearly 
$3,000 for his township more than he had been authorized 
by the Advisory Board. ITe lost it. He sued the township 
to get his money but failed to get it. 

The Trustee’s salary is fixed by the Advisory Board— 
that is, they determine how many days he shall devote to 
township business at $2 a day. In townships with a popu¬ 
lation above 25,000 a salary is fixed by the County Com¬ 
missioners at not less than $1,000 nor more than $1,500. 
In townships with a population of over 75,000 his salary 
is $1,800 a year; and in townships of over 100,000 his 
salary is $2,500. This last applies to only one township 
in the State—Center Township, Marion County, which 
contains the greater part of Indianapolis. 

Each January the Trustee must make a full settlement 
with his Advisory Board, who go over his books to see that 
the township business is being properly recorded. 

The Trustee holds his office for four years, and can 
serve but one term in eight years. He is elected the same 
year as the President. That is a good way to remember 
the dates. Who is your present Trustee ? How many past 
Trustees of your township can you remember? 

ROAD SUPERVISOR. 

A farmer once wished to express his contempt for a 
statesman who had been President of the United States. 
Said the farmer, “I would not vote for that man for Road 
Supervisor,” thus implying that the office of Road Super- 


62 


visor is a very humble office. A few years before, when 
this same farmer was helping elect this statesman to the 
office of President, he said, “Let’s all vote the straight 
ticket, from President down to Road Supervisor.” But 
the Supervisor may be as important to you some day as 
the President. He can command or “warn out” every 
able-bodied man in his “Road District” to labor upon the 
public highway, under his direct supervision, not less than 
two nor more than four days each year. This applies to 
men between the ages of 21 and 50 years. And if a citi¬ 
zen, after being warned, neglects or refuses to work at the 
place and on the day ordered by the Supervisor, or to send 
a hand, it is the duty of the Supervisor to sue him. No 
property is exempt from such a suit. He must pay $1.25 
for each day that he should have worked. If the Super¬ 
visor is aware that the citizen owns a team of horses, oxen 
or mules, or a wagon or road scraper, he may order the 
citizen to bring them and use them in his road work. And 
if the citizen refuses, then the Supervisor need not accept 
any of his services, but may charge him up with $1.25 for 
each day he was expected to work. This $1.25 a day is 
called “commutation money.” But if he brings a team 
he is allowed a day’s time for each team. All this 
emergency the Supervisor may warn out the citizens at 
any time to repair a road and give them credit on their 
time for the next year. The Supervisor is the only official 
in Indiana who is elected at a special election, and the only 
one not elected by the Australian system of voting. The 
Legislature of 1905 tinkered the law for the election of 
Supervisors to this effect. 

The Township Trustee shall—if he wants to—divide his 
township into not less than two nor more than four road 
districts, as nearly equal in size as practicable. On or 
before the first Monday in December 1905, and every two 


63 


years thereafter, the Trustee shall post up in two public 
places in each road district, notices that on the second 
Saturday after the first Monday in December at a certain 
schoolhouse will be held an election of Supervisor. The 
hour for the polls to open—that is, the hour when voting 
may begin—is selected and designated by the Trustee. 
Names of candidates may be written or printed on the 
ballot, which need be no larger than a postage stamp, 
but may be as large as a show bill. The ballots are 
counted according to the usual rules, and the one receiving 
the largest number of votes is the one who will receive the 
Supervisor’s salary, which is $1.50 per day, for forty days 
each year. 

s' 

STATE SCHOOL SYSTEM AND ITS ADMINISTRATION- 

STATE SUPERINTENDENT. 

9 

) 

We have already seen the relation of the County Super¬ 
intendent and of the Township Trustee to the common 
school. 

At the head of the State school system, however, is the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, or State Superin¬ 
tendent, as he is more often called. By virtue of his office 
he is a trustee of the State Normal School, which is for 
the purpose of preparing teachers to teach in the common 
schools of Indiana. He is also a member of the State 
Board of Education which chooses all the school texts and 
prepares the course of study for all the schools of the 
State. He is required by law to visit each county at least 
once during his term of office, to ascertain the condition 
of the school funds. If the permanent funds are not 
safely invested, or are not earning 6 per cent., it is his 
duty to report the County Auditor to the Legislature. He 


64 


may even direct the Prosecuting Attorney to bring suit 
in the name of the State to recover any school funds that 
are in danger of becoming lost. 

Any teacher dissatisfied with the grade of license given 
him by the County Superintendent may appeal to the 
State Superintendent, or may send his examination man¬ 
uscript to the State Superintendent direct and have it 
graded by him instead of by the County Superintendent. 
The State Superintendent is practically the attorney-gen¬ 
eral on school matters. He must give his opinion, when 
so requested, on the meaning of any part of the school 
law; and must compile and cause to be published the 
school laws of the State. 

But the great work which has engaged the State Super¬ 
intendents for the last few years has been to secure more 
high schools, and the consolidation of the township 
schools; that is, the establishment of large schools near 
the center of the township and the abandonment of the 
smaller district schools. This nearly always results in the 
high school. 

While this work must be done by the wide-awake Town¬ 
ship Trustees, yet the plan had its origin and encourage¬ 
ment from the State Superintendent. In an early day 
when schools were few, and families large, and the roads 
were very bad, a State Superintendent said he “hoped to 
live to see a schoolhouse at every cross roads in Indiana.” 
At that time he was right. But as each village now has 
a graded school which is much better than a district school, 
so many pupils come in from the country that the district 
is often left without enough pupils to make school life 
pleasant or interesting. 

The movement for centralized and high schools was 
first taken up and encouraged by State Superintendent 
David M. Geeting, who was elected in 1894. Prior to 


65 


his administration only a township here and there had any 
high school at all. He traveled in every county in the 
State, speaking at institutes, and conferring with Town¬ 
ship Trustees in behalf of township high schools. The 
same ideas were vigorously pushed by State Superintend¬ 
ent Frank L. Jones, who was elected in 1898, and by Fas- 
sett A. Cotton, who was elected in 1902, until now there 
is scarcely a township in the State that hasn’t a high 
school. 

The salary of the State Superintendent was recently 
raised to $3,000 a year; he is also allowed $1,500 for a 
deputy, $720 a year for a stenographer, and $1,000 for 
traveling expenses. He is elected for a term of two years. 

Candidates for this office are nominated by the regular 
Democratic and Republican State Conventions, and are 
voted for by the people the same as other candidates on 
the State ticket. As most citizens know none of the candi¬ 
dates, they vote the State ticket by stamping the eagle or 
the rooster. So the only sure way in Indiana to get a 
good man is for both the Democratic and Republican 
State Conventions to nominate a good man. 


THE SCHOOL FUND. 


The Common School Fund contains all the money that 
has ever been paid in the way of fines—a very large 
amount each year—all forfeited bonds of criminals, all 
money derived from lands or other property to which 
there are no heirs, and gets whatever tax may be assessed 
upon corporations for the benefit of the common school 
fund. From 1834 to 1859 the State of Indiana was a 
stockholder in the State Bank, and the State’s share of 


66 


profits in that time amounted to $3,750,000, all of which 
went into the Common School Fund. 

Then we have the “Congressional Township School 
Fund,” which, together with all money derived from 
liquor licenses and unclaimed fees, constitute the “School 
Revenue for Tuition.” The United States Government 
owns all the land of the State, until the land has been 
entered by settlers, and until then is called “Congress 
land.” But Congress donated to Indiana each section 
numbered 16—see “How Land is Surveyed”—the pro¬ 
ceeds from the sale of such land to go to the Congressional 
Township School Fund. It has practically all been sold 
long ago. 

These school funds are distributed among the different 
County Auditors to be loaned at 6 per cent, on real estate 
mortgage and insured improvements. Only the interest 
can be used. The school funds are not to be permitted to 
diminish, and the Common School Fund constantly in¬ 
creases. A county of 25,000 population is likely to have 
about $27,000 of the Congressional School Fund and 
about $75,000 of the Common School Fund. County 
Auditors must either keep this money loaned out, or the 
county must pay the interest. He can loan one person 
but $2,000, and for only five years. The property mort¬ 
gaged must be worth twice the amount of the loan. The 
interest on the Congressional Township Fund is collected 
by the County Treasurer and is distributed among the 
different townships according to the number of school 
children enumerated. 

Interest on the Common School Fund is also collected 
by the County Treasurer, and taken to the State Treas 
urer, and is by him redistributed to the different counties 
according to the number of persons of school age in each 
county, as shown by the report of the State Superintend- 


67 


ent. The interest on these funds all goes to the Tuition 
Fund to pay teachers’ wages. There is also by law a State 
tax of 11 cents on each $100 worth of property, and 50 
cents poll tax, for the benefit of the Tuition Fund. The 
school trustees of townships, towns and cities may levy a 
tuition tax of 50 cents on each $ 100 , and a poll tax of 25 

cents, within their jurisdiction, for tuition. 

Every male citizens between the ages of 21 and 50 
years must pay the poll tax, whether he owns property or 
not. The Congressional School Fund is about $2,500,000; 
the Common School Fund about $8,000,000; the interest 
from both is about $600,000 annually. 

It requires 16,000 teachers to teach the schools of 
Indiana, and $5,000,000 to pay them. All the teachers 
together would make a larger crowd than attends the 
County Fair on Thursday. Schoolhouses and school fur¬ 
niture, etc., are paid for by special school tax, levied by 
the trustees of each township, town and city. It may 
be as high as 50 cents on the $100 and 25 cents poll tax. 
It creates the “Special School Fund.’’ 

The State University at Bloomington, Purdue Uni¬ 
versity at Lafayette, and the State Normal School at 
Terre Haute are each supported by special tax created by 
law for them. You can see illustrations and descriptions 
of these schools in your geographies. 

POLITICAL PARTIES—ORGANIZATION AND 

CONVENTIONS. 

Of course, you think you belong to some political party. 
Very likely it is the same one to which your father be¬ 
longs. That is all right, provided that it is all right. But 
by the time you are 21 you should have a still better rea¬ 
son for your views than that you were raised that way. 
This is not saying a young man should join a different 


68 


party just to be different, nor because it is in power, for 
if be does that be isn’t a good citizen. All policies of 
government are now effected through political parties, and 
a man without a party can accomplish but little if anything 
in government matters. If you are a well-informed citi¬ 
zen you will soon see some things in your own party prin¬ 
ciples which you don’t quite like, and some things in an¬ 
other party’s principles which you like pretty well. This 
shows that your own party is not all good, nor the others 
all bad. The most important work of parties is in the 
convention where they nominate a ticket of candidates 
and adopt a platform. The platform is a statement of the 
principles the party will put into practice if elected—may¬ 
be. They often have fierce debates and quarrels over the 
platform. 

Did you ever attend a convention and see them nom¬ 
inate the best ticket which your county ever had, 
and hear the speeches? You never. Well, maybe you 
wouldn’t have paid any attention to the proceedings if 
you had attended a dozen. Maybe you would have loafed 
around the peanut stand or watermelon wagon instead 
of listening. The next time your father and brother go 
to the county convention, go along if you can, and see 
them help to down the “ring” and the “bosses.” 

A convention is a party affair. As both the Democratic 
and Republican parties are organized exactly alike a de¬ 
scription of a convention of one will also describe the 
other. How all the voters of a. party could agree on the 
same candidates was for many years a mystery to me— 
especially how they could agree upon a candidate for 
President. Well, each township is divided into precincts. 
A precinct is that portion of a township wherein all the 
voters vote at one place on election day, and must not 
contain more than 250 voters—called also electors. A 




JAMES E. WATSON, R., 
Congressman Sixth District. 




JESSE OVERSTREET, R., 
Congressman Seventh District. 









71 


man can vote only in the precinct in which he lives. Early 
in the spring of every campaign year—each year that ends 
in even numbers, as 1902, 1904, 1906, etc., the county 
chairman issues a call to the voters of his party to meet 
in their respective precincts to elect a precinct “commit¬ 
teeman,” to select delegates to the district meetings, and 
also delegates to the State Convention. There are about 
3,000 precincts in Indiana, each with its Democratic and 
Republican committeeman. Do you know who they are 
in your precinct and how many precincts in your town¬ 
ship ? Soon afterward these precinct committeemen meet 
and organize themselves into a county committee and 
elect another chairman or re-elect the old one. The 
county chairman calls the committee together occasionally 
to report on the condition of the party in their respective 
precincts and townships, and to decide what kind of a 
county convention they prefer. Whether a delegate or 
mass convention or primary election. If the committee 
in its wisdom decides on a delegate convention the county 
chairman issues a call through the papers calling the 
voters of his party together in their townships to select 
delegates—usually eight to twenty—to represent the peo¬ 
ple in the county convention. On the day set by the 
county committee the delegates meet at the appointed 
place, usually some city hall. The meeting is called to 
order by the county chairman who generally makes a 
short speech and closes by saying, “Gentlemen, whom 
will you have for chairman of this convention V f 

A delegate arises and nominates the county chairman or 
some other man for the place. The first man nominated 
is usually chosen. The chairman of the convention then 
takes charge of the meeting and begins to call for nomina¬ 
tions—usually for Representative first. Then is the time 
that Orator Battleblast begins to speak. He arises and tells 




72 


the convention that if it “desires to name a candidate for 
Representative who can everlastingly wallop the candidate 
of the other party, and add a tower of strength and a little 
money to the cause and make a grand and glorious record 
in the Legislature, William Henry Smith is the man they 
are looking for, and don’t you forget it.” Another dele¬ 
gate nominates Jones, another nominates Brown, another 
names Jenks. Sometimes as many as a dozen names are 
presented for one office. Then the chairman instructs 
the secretary to call the roll of townships. As each one is 
called a delegate arises and announces the vote of his 
township. If it is entitled to twelve delegates, the vote 
may stand: Smith 4, Jones 1, Brown 2, Jenks 5. When 
the roll call is finished, it is seen that Jenks has received 
the most votes and the chairman declares him to be the 
nominee. And so on till the ticket is complete, Auditor, 
Treasurer, Clerk, Sheriff, Recorder, Commissioners, Sur¬ 
veyor, Coroner, and seven County Councilmen. It is 
then discovered that they have named the best and strong¬ 
est ticket ever placed before the people. 

A month or more before the convention a candidate 
should arrange to have it announced in the papers by “his 
many friends” that he has consented to accept the nom¬ 
ination for Sheriff—or whatever office he may aspire to. 
He can usually make such an arrangement for $5. He 
may announce in all the papers of his party published in 
the county and in all the independent papers, or in only 
that one of his papers which he chooses to recognize as the 
“party organ.” 

From the day of the convention till election day—al¬ 
ways on Tuesday following the first Monday in November 
—the candidates attend every old settlers’ meeting, every 
public sale, and every rally in the county, shaking hands 
and asking the people to support them. They often in- 


73 


dulge in the immoral habit of carrying a pocket full of 
cigars to hand out where they will do the most good. Also 
from that time on till election day the candidates are con¬ 
sidered a prey for every worthless deadbeat that wants a 
drink or a quarter without earning it. If it is a “close” 
county, that is, if the parties are about equally divided, 
candidates don’t like to be too independent for fear they 
will lose a vote or two. A delegate convention is often 
very unfair, as it often defeats the will of the party. A 
better way to nominate a ticket is by a mass convention 
where the voters from all over the county assemble in a 
grove near some city. When two or more candidates are 
presented all those who are for Smith line up on one side; 
all those for Jones on the other, and are counted. Who¬ 
ever has the most men on his side is nominated. The chief 
objection to this system of nominating county candidates 
is that the county is so large that some have to come so 
far that they don’t always come. A mass convention 
scarcely ever brings out more than one-fifth of the party 
strength. This system is better adapted to a township 
where every voter lives near. The third system is the 
most expensive but the fairest of all—the primary elec¬ 
tion. It is a regular election within the party. But it 
requires hard work to get ready to hold elections. There 
must be clerks, inspectors and judges to see that ballots 
are counted and counted fairly. And they must have pay. 
The candidates, however, pay the bill. A primary election 
generally brings out at least two-thirds of the party in 
each precinct. Whenever a man takes part in a conven¬ 
tion he is supposed to support the ticket nominated, but 
he doesn’t always do so, and doesn’t have to. 

What has become of those delegates to the “district 
meeting.” Upon the call of the State chairman and the 
chairman of the Congressional District, which call is made 


74 


through all the newspapers of the party in the district, the 
delegates meet in some city named by the district chair¬ 
man. Their work is to elect a new district chairman, or 
re-elect the old one, and to adopt a platform, and return 
home. Then the thirteen district chairmen of the State 
meet and organize themselves into a State Central Commit¬ 
tee and elect a State chairman. The State committee and 
chairman call the State Convention and manage the State 
campaign. The district chairman manages the campaign 
of the candidate for Congress. Candidates for Congress 
are nominated by delegates chosen by the people. The 
candidate for President is nominated by delegates to the 
National Convention, and each Congressional District in 
the United States is entitled to two delegates. In Indiana 
these are chosen by the delegates to the State Convention. 
On the evening before the State Convention the delegates 
from the thirteen districts meet in thirteen different rooms 
in the State House and in each room elect two delegates, 
and two alternates, to vote in case one or both the dele¬ 
gates fail to attend the National Convention. The State 
Convention as a whole also chooses four delegates “at 
large” for the State. Delegates chosen in this way will 
help to nominate the next President of the United States. 
Thus in Indiana the system of party organization is this: 
The people elect precinct committeemen. The precinct 
committeemen elect a county chairman. The county chair¬ 
men do not elect any higher official. The election of dis¬ 
trict chairmen comes back to the delegates from the peo¬ 
ple. The district chairmen elect a State chairman. The 
State committee elects sorqe one to be a member of the 
national committee. These members of the national com¬ 
mittee from the different States elect a national chairman. 
Senator James II. Jones, of Arkansas, was the Democratic 
national chairman who managed both of Bryan’s cam- 


75 


paigns.. Senator Marcus A. Hanna, of Ohio, was the 
Republican national chairman who managed both of Mc¬ 
Kinley’s campaigns. Mr. Thomas Taggart, of Indiana, was 
the Democratic National Chirman, who had charge of Judge 
Parker’s campaign; Mr. George B. Cortelyou, of New York, 
managed the campaign of Theodore Roosevelt. It required 
fifty years to get this system of party machinery fully de¬ 
veloped. Once established and set in motion it is easily 
kept going. 

THE LAW OF CONTRACTS. 

The management of the world’s business is a never- 
ending round of making contracts. Therefore some 
knowledge of the law of contracts is a necessary part of 
every person’s education who transacts any business with 
his fellowmen. 

In almost every conversation we hold we make some 
sort of a contract. A sale of goods is a contract. Mar¬ 
riage is a contract, though it is not always a sale. 

The first principle of the law of contract is that every 
person must do as he agrees to. To fail to do so is to com¬ 
mit breach of contract. 

A contract to be binding upon the parties must contain 
certain necessary elements. First, it must be legal. For 
instance, if a man agrees to steal you a horse and goes 
back on his word, you can not sue him for breach of con¬ 
tract. 

A contract to be binding must be an agreement to do 
something which is possible. If you agree to jump over 
the moon for $5 and don’t quite jump over, the other 
party can not sue you for breach of contract, even though 
he has partly or entirely paid you. You will have to re¬ 
turn whatever he has paid. 

In every contract there must be a consideration, that is, 
there must be an exchange of values or services. When 


76 


a farmer sells a horse for $100, then we say the $100 is 
the consideration which he received for it. A promissory 
note is a contract and the words in it “value received 7 ’ rep¬ 
resent the consideration. If you agree to make a man a 
present of $10 next Saturday, you don’t have to do so, al¬ 
though the man may be damaged by having made his cal¬ 
culations to use it and gets his plans upset. But if you 
agree to pay him $10 for his lead pencil you must pay, 
though the consideration is out of all proportion to the 
article bought. Perhaps you could avoid paying the $10 
on the grounds that you were insane when you contracted 
to do so. 

The contract to be binding must be made between par¬ 
ties able to make a contract. Minors (persons under 21 
years of age), insane persons, idiots and persons intoxi¬ 
cated are not capable of making contracts, and are not 
bound by them. And this is right, as it prevents dishonest 
men from imposing upon persons of deficient judgment. 

Before a contract is binding upon either party it must 
be assented to by both parties. If you tell a man you will 
bring him a horse next week to sell him at $40, you had 
better get him to say that he will give you $40 before you 
take him the horse, or he won’t have to buy him. On the 
other hand, if he tells you he will come on a certain day 
to buy your horse at $35 you are not obliged to say that 
you will or will not take it. But when he comes after the 
horse you don’t have to sell him unless you want to, for it 
takes two to make a bargain. I know a certain man who 
gets badly fooled every little while by trying to make a 
trade all by himself. Yet he goes and fools himself the 
same way again before long. If you priced the horse at 
$50 or more you wouldn’t be bound to sell even if you 
had agreed to, unless you had signed an agreement or had 
received part of the money. The statute on this subject 
reads thus: 






GEORGE W. CROMER, R., 
Congressman Eighth District. 

























































































C. B. LANDIS, R., 
Congressman Ninth District. 















79 


^si o contract for the sale of any goods, for the price 
of $50 or more, shall be valid, unless the purchaser shall 
receive part of such property or shall give something in 
earnest to bind the bargain or in part payment; or unless 
some note or memorandum in writing be made, and signed 
by the party to be charged thereby, or by some person law¬ 
fully authorized by him.” 

The word “goods” doesn’t always mean “dry goods.” 
It may mean “wet goods” or hardware, or hogs, or wheat. 

A stock buyer by the strange name of Smith, one fall, 
went through a certain neighborhood buying hogs at 5 
cents a pound. The farmers were to deliver the hogs at a 
certain pair of scales on a certain morning about two 
weeks later. Before the day came, however, hogs were 
worth 6 cents. Smith had paid no money on them, but 
he was at the scales that morning fully expecting the farm¬ 
ers to bring their hogs to market. But not a hog nor a 
farmer appeared, and the buyer lost $400. Could he bring 
suit for damages? Ho, because each farmer’s bunch of 
hogs was worth more than $50. If one farmer’s bunch 
of hogs had been worth less than $50, then Smith could 
have sued that one farmer. Hext year the same buyer 
went through the same neighborhood and offered the farm¬ 
ers a great deal more for their hogs than they were worth. 
Of course, he again bought all the hogs in the country, and 
every farmer bright and early started to market on the 
day appointed to get a big pocket full of money. But 
where was Smith? He was miles away from the crowd of 
angry farmers, honest old farmers. They threatened to 
sue him. But they could no more sue him now than he 
could sue them for forgetting their promise a year before. 
Smith had in this manner collected the only damages he 
could collect. But the man who is always trying to get 
even rarely has time to be a successful man. The man 


80 


who derives satisfaction from causing other people trouble 
is generally a bad citizen. But this Smith was a pretty 
good citizen. 

Other contracts which have to be signed are chiefly for 
the sale of land. Also any agreement that is not to be per¬ 
formed within one year from the date of making the con¬ 
tract. There are still others of which your lawyer can 
tell you. 

The contract must be without fraud. If a man sells a 
horse guaranteeing him to be “sound in wind and limb,” 
when the horse has the heaves at the time, the purchaser 
need not pay for him or can get his money back if he has 
paid. But he must return the horse. But the party in¬ 
tending to defraud the other remains bound by the con¬ 
tract, for it is a principle of law that one can not take ad¬ 
vantage of his own wrong doing. 

So a contract to be binding must be legal; it must be to 
do something which is possible; it must be made by per¬ 
sons capable of making it; there must be a consideration, 
there must be the assent of both parties; it must be with¬ 
out fraud; it must in certain instances be written and 
signed. Commit to memory the elements of a binding 
contract. Violation of the contract by one party releases 
the other. 

People are always committing some little violations of 
contract which are harmless, and to which sensible men 
pay no attention. If you are dealing with a fool, how¬ 
ever, be careful, for he may be watching for some chance 
to sue you for breach of contract, so that he can get into 
court. 


81 


HOW ROADS ARE CHANGED. 

W hat w© commonly call the u big road” is known in 
law as the “public highway.” It belongs to the public, 
and that part of it which runs past your door is as much 
the property of a traveler from Arkansas as it is yours. 
And that which runs by the door of the Arkansas traveler 
is as much yours as his. For this reason a landowner can 
not jerk and twist the road about from place to place on 
his land without the consent of the County Commissioners, 
nor without giving his neighbors a chance to object. 
Whenever a farmer desires to change the road upon his 
own land he must post up three notices in three public 
places in the neighborhood stating that at a certain term 
of the Commissioners’ Court he will petition the Board 
for permission to change the road and must say just what 
change he desires permission to make. Then the farmer 
files his petition, and the Commissioners appoint three dis¬ 
interested landowners as viewers, who go to the place of 
the proposed change and report to the Commissioners 
either their approval or disapproval of the change If the 
viewers report in favor of the change, any landowner in 
the neighborhood may remonstrate against it, and the 
Commissioners then try the case on the facts, and if they 
find that the public will not be materially injured by the 
proposed change they grant the petitioner permission to 
make it If the viewers report unfavorably, the petitioner 
may demand the trial and must abide by it. The peti¬ 
tioner must pay all the costs of the proceeding, except 
that when a party remonstrates and the Commissioners 
find against him he must pay the costs, if any, occasioned 
by the remonstrance. 

Whenever it is desired to change the location of a road, 
or to open up an entirely new line of road or to discontinue 


82 


(vacate) a road over the lands of other parties it can be 
done in the following manner: 

Twelve freeholders (landowners) six of whom must re¬ 
side in the immediate vicinity of the place where the new 
road is to be laid out, or where the old on is to be vacated 
or where the change is to be made, must petition the 
County Commissioners. But they must show to the Board 
that they have given notice of such application by publi¬ 
cation for three weeks successively in a newspaper pub¬ 
lished in the county or by posting up notices in three 
public places in the neighborhood for twenty days. Then 
the Board of Commissioners shall appoint three persons 
who do not live in the neighborhood to view the highway 
proposed to be located, changed or vacated. 

The viewers must take an oath to perform their duty 
faithfully and agree to meet on some day to view such 
highway; and report to the Commissioners at the next 
term of their court. If the viewers approve the change, 
they describe it by metes and bounds, that is by directions 
and section numbers. 

The Commissioners make a record of the change and 
order the road to be kept in repair. The Auditor sends 
a copy of the order to the Township Trustee, who copies 
it on his record and notifies the proper Supervisor. 

Any person through whose land such highway passes 
may remonstrate—not against the change—but for dam¬ 
ages. The Commissioners must then appoint reviewers 
who proceed just as the first viewers did. If they report 
in favor of damages, and the Commissioners think the 
county would be benefited to the extent of the damages, 
they order such damages to be paid out of the county treas¬ 
ury, and order the road changed, or opened, or vacated. 
If they do not think the change worth the cost they do not 
order the change and the matter stops, unless appealed to 
the Circuit Court. 



E. D. CRUMPACKER, R., 
Congressman Tenth District. 




FRED K. LANDIS, R., 
Congressman Eleventh District. 








85 


ISTo highway can be changed until the damages assessed 
by the reviewers have been paid. 

All country roads must be thirty feet wide, township 
roads twenty-five feet wide. There are very few town¬ 
ship roads any more. Roads generally run on what are 
called section lines, which are also generally the boundary 
lines between men’s farms. In the latter case each land- 
owner must give half the road. 


HOW LANDS ARE SURVEYED. 

All the land in Indiana is laid off into Congressional 
Townships, six miles square. Each Congressional Town¬ 
ship, or town, therefore, contains thirty-six square miles 
or sections, of 640 acres each. Each section numbered 


6 

5 

4 

3 

2 

1 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

18 

17 

16 

15 

14 

13 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

30 

29 

28 

27 

26 

25 

31 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 


sixteen is the one which at one time belonged to the State 
to sell for the benefit of the Permanent School Eund. The 






































86 


townships are separated by range lines which run due 
north and south six miles apart, and by town lines which 
run due east and west six miles apart. 

All townships are located as being so many towns north 
or south of the base line which runs across the State from 
east to west passing near Petersburg in Pike County. 
And so many ranges east or west of the meridian which 
runs from north to south passing near Paoli, Bloomington, 
Lebanon, Logansport and South Bend. The north row of 
the townships in the State are all in town 38, north, which 
means that they are thirty-eight times six miles north of 
the base line. They also run south as far as town 5. The 
townships along the east side of the State are in “range 15, 
east.” On the west side they are in “range 9, west.” The 
section lines which divide the township into sections run 
due north and south, and due east and west, except in 
Clark County, where they run diagonally. Township and 
county lines do not always follow the boundaries, for part 
of a congressional township is in one county and part in 
another. Suppose you live in Section 20 in any township 
outside of Clark County, then Section 17 lies on the north, 
Section 21 on the east, 29 on the south, and 19 on the 
west. If you live in Section 1, then 36 is on the north, 
2 on the west, 6 on the east, and 12 on the south. Sec¬ 
tions are divided into quarters of 160 acres, which are sub¬ 
divided into halves, quarters, etc. Whenever a farm is 
sold the deed for the land must describe it as being a cer¬ 
tain part of Section USTo.. . ., Town ISTo.. . . north or south, 

and Bange No.east or west. Did you ever hear of 

a “range road ?” It is the boundary line between, what? 
In what section do you live ? By the diagram bound it. 



87 


GOVERNMENT AND ANARCHY. 

So you see, my dear young citizen, we need rules and 
regulations to protect us from one another; not because 
we are savage, for we are not, but because we are selfish. 
Even if human beings were not selfish and each one loved 
his neighbor as himself we would still need government, 
because there would be so many different standards of 
right and wrong. In this country, where one citizen is 
as good as another, the only way to ascertain what is really 
wanted is to submit a question or a candidate to a vote of 
the people and let the majority rule. Although the men 
of good judgment might all vote for a certain measure, 
and the more ignorant and less reasonable majority might 
vote against it, yet the wise minority must bow to the 
will of the majority—to the triumph of ignorance. 

If an ignorant majority votes wrong they must suffer 
the consequences and so must all their fellow citizens. In 
this way we are responsible for the acts of one another. 
So it’s somebody’s business, isn’t it, what somebody else 
does. This is why the community can not afford to have 
a young citizen grow up in ignorance. This is why we 
should inform ourselves on political questions and discuss 
them with our neighbors. In discussions of this kind you 
should carefully avoid using such argument as “old blue 
nosed Democrat,” or “you old Republican thief.” Such 
remarks jar the nerves and divert attention from the sub¬ 
ject you are discussing. It is a slander on American in¬ 
telligence to say that citizens can not safely talk together 
on how our government ought to be run. Township poli¬ 
tics involves questions of roads and schools and other pub¬ 
lic improvements, and it is right for the people to talk 
such things over, but they needn’t jaw. 


88 


After all, politics is only the science of running the gov¬ 
ernment, and you can’t make a better definition. If you 
can, let’s hear it. 

Did you ever think what a great advantage it is to have 
the law on your side ? To have a law on your side is to 
have the authorities and the people on your side. Did you 
ever see a surging crowd melt away before a single police¬ 
man, or a crowd of boisterous, brawling men grow quiet 
when an officer appeared. But policemen and Sheriffs are 
not the only officials who command respect. How quickly 
a Boad Supervisor can settle a dispute between farmers 
as to how the road ought to be worked, by giving an order 
how it shall be done. Because the police and the Super¬ 
visor, the Trustee, the Commissioners and all other offi¬ 
cials—each within his jurisdiction—have the law and the 
government on their side. Sometimes, however, a mob 
of determined and infuriated men overpower the authori¬ 
ties and override the law. 

The anarchist doctrine is that we need no law, no gov¬ 
ernment, no taxes, nor officers, that every man should be 
entirely free, entirely independent of every other man. 
The anarchist says that public sentiment would compel 
every man to support schools, to work the roads (which is 
another way of paying taxes) to keep up public improve¬ 
ments, and to be in every way a good citizen. He con¬ 
tends that our natural respect for the rights of others is 
sufficient to secure justice to every individual, without the 
expense of government. If our rights can be secured 
without government then indeed we need no government. 
Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence, 
“To secure these rights—life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness—governments have been instituted among 
men.” According to this doctrine governments exist for 
the benefit of the people and instead of for office-holders— 




NEWTON W. GILBERT, 
Congressman Twelfth District. 



A. L. BRICK, R., 
Congressman Thirteenth District. 




91 


and not the people for the government. The anarchist 
says we can have all these rights just as w T ell without gov¬ 
ernment as with it. 

But we do not think so, do we? Anarchists are more 
numerous in Europe than in this country. It often cures 
a man of anarchy to come from a bad government of 
Europe to this country, where the people are freer. When 
a man willfully violates the laws of his country he has 
given his consent to everybody else to do the same thing; 
and if they did, it would break up our government. So a 
lawbreaker is to that extent an anarchist. Some men live 
as though they considered that laws were made to be en¬ 
forced against every one but themselves, or against all 
who do not have wit enough to evade them. But laws 
are made to be enforced, and if you are a good citizen you 
will help enforce them. You may have to prosecute some¬ 
body to accomplish this; then anarchists’ sympathizers will 
begin to prattle about how people ought to mind their own 
business and let other people’s business alone. It is your 
business to aid your government. Of course some people 
make a great bluster about enforcing the laws because they 
desire to be seen and talked about. Their motive is selfish, 
but that is better than no enforcement at all. Whenever 
you think that somebody ought to begin prosecution to 
break up lawlessness in your community you are the some¬ 
body who ought to do it. Don’t wait for somebody else 
to begin, nor to find out what other people will think, but 
act on your own judgment. People like to follow a man 
who has some judgment, and then acts upon it. The man 
who first waits to see which side of the question has a ma¬ 
jority and then joins that side doesn’t amount to very 
much, and the people will not pay much attention to him. 

Socialism is just the opposite of anarchy. Socialism 
w r ould have the government own and operate all railroads, 


92 


mines, stores, farms and butcher shops—in fact, all busi¬ 
ness in the interest of the people. They hold that trusts 
are right and useful, but that the people—all the people, 
the government—should own them. 

A GREAT STATE. 

The laws enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana 
apply to all the people who live upon a certain described 
section of the earth’s surface, 276 miles long and 145 
miles wide, and designated on the map as Indiana. But 
the real Indiana is the organized government and the 
people. 

Whenever you travel over the State on the passenger 
train, on the electric car, in the buggy or automobile, or 
on the bicycle, and see how much there is of it, and how 
well improved, you will realize what a truly great and 
grand State you live in. Yet there were not enough peo¬ 
ple within her borders to be entitled to a Congressman till 
1816. That was necessary before it could be admitted as 
a State. 

There are persons yet living who were small barefoot 
boys and little toddling girls in 1816. Their heads are 
white now and their step feeble, but they can tell their 
great grandchildren about the good old days when Indiana 
was young and was considered a part of the far West. 
But the new times are better and can be made much better 
than the old times, as you can hear by attending an old 
settlers’ meeting. The school boy and girl of England or 
Germany never heard of an old settlers’ meeting, because 
those countries have been settled so long that the first 
settlers’ bones have crumbled to dust many hundred years 
ago. 

Compared with the life of any European State our coun¬ 
try is as a strong youth beside an old man. 



93 


^ 0l b young citizen, must be a school teacher, or some 
other useful artisan if vou would contribute your part to 
the intellectual greatness of your State, and you can not 
do it in a better way than by becoming a good school 
teacher. 


SOME NEW LAWS. 

The Legislature which met in 1905 enacted a great many 
new laws. Those commonly regarded as being most impor¬ 
tant are given. None was talked about more than the 

Anti-Cigarette Law .—It is unlawful for any person to 
sell, to keep for sale, or to give away, or to have in his pos¬ 
session, any cigarette or cigarette paper or wrapper. Any 
person who violates this law shall be fined not less than 
$25 for his first offense; and not less than $100 for each 
offense thereafter. At least fifty men and boys paid havyi 
fines when the law first went into effect. 

Cruelty to Animals .—Any person who cruelly drives or 
works an animal, or who, being the owner of any animal, 
abandons the same when no longer able to work/or who shall 
carry upon any vehicle any animal or fowl having the feet or 
legs tied together, may be fined in any sum not more than 
$200.00, and may also be imprisoned in the county jail not 
more than sixty days. 

Vote Buying and Selling .—Whoever hires or buys, or 
offers to hire or buy any person to vote or to refrain from 
voting any ticket or for any candidate shall be fined in any 
sum not more than $50, and must be disfranchised for ten 
years. The same penalties are inflicted on the man who 
sells or offers to sell his vote. It takes at least two for the 
disgraceful transaction of buying a vote. If either party 
informs on the other, the party so informing shall never be 
prosecuted for his offense. 


94 


Marriage License. —All applicants for marriage license 
must make a written application to the county clerk. And 
the clerk may require them to furnish proof that neither of 
them is a county charge, and not likely to become such; and 
that neither has any guardian; nor any transmissible (con¬ 
tagious) disease; nor is insane; and the State Board of 
Health may at any time make still further requirements. 
This law was written and introduced by a bachelor. 

Li..uor License , Remonstrance. —The former law was 
not repealed, and this .provision was added: Whenever a 
petition like the following is signed by a majority of the 
legal voters of any township or any city ward, and is filed 
with the county Auditor, then the commissioners cannot 
issue a liquor license to any person in that township or city 
ward within the next two years afterward. 

State of Indiana, Marion County: 

To the Honorable Board of Commissioners of said County; 

We, the undersigned legal voters of Center township, in 
Marion County (or of ward fifteen in the City of Indianapolis 
Marion County (or of ward fifteen in the city of Indianapo¬ 
lis) hereby represent that we are opposed to the traffic in 
intoxicating liquors, and hereby remonstrate against the 
granting of any license to any person to sell such liquors in 
said township (or ward). 

IN CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion, dear young citizen, you live in a great 
and grand country. It is partly yours. Men who have 
traveled in all the different countries of the world tell us 
that no other will compare with ours. In Egypt they can 
point to their pyramids and tell us of the power of their 
kings 3,000 years ago. But the people to-day stand idly 
upon the streets and beg from American travelers. The 
reason that Egyptians have to beg while Americans have 
something to give them is that Americans are industrious 


95 


while Egyptians are lazy. To he a good American citizen 
is to be industrious. This usually also means to be intel¬ 
ligent, and in nine cases out of ten, honest. 

You also live in a great State. While many of Indi¬ 
ana’s citizens have won fame and fortune, what is a great 
deal more important, the masses of the common people are 
prosperous, intelligent, industrious and progressive. If 
you would be a citizen worthy of your country and your 
State you will, in addition to being industrious and honest, 
acquire a fair education in the peaceful arts, cultivate 
the habit of personal politeness—you know how miserable 
a bright boy or girl always feels after acting rude; and 
keep yourself unspotted from the world. Edward Everett 
Hale says that all healthful minded young persons should 
adopt the folowing rule: “Spend several hours each day 
out in the open air, breathing deep. Every day hold in¬ 
timate conversation with some one superior to yourself. 
Every day mingle with the rank and file, which means 
to observe what The people’ are thinking and doing. Read 
good literature whenever you have time. Waste no time. 
Be honest. Keep clean. Choose respectable companions. 
Take an interest in public affairs.” If you do you will be 
such a citizen that the neighborhood in which you live will 
be proud of you, and you can do it. 

We have spent many days together. The writer hopes 
you have enjoyed them as much as he has. Tie hopes 
some day to have the opportunity to vote for you for 
Governor or State Superintendent; or, if you are not 
eligible to the office, he hopes you may be the Governor’s 
wife or the Mrs. State Superintendent—if you want to 
be. The writer even wishes you a greater success. He 
hopes you may be a successful farmer or farmer’s wife. 

Good-bye. 

«/ 


































































\ 


✓ 








- « 


















Population of Indiana 


Total for 1890.2,192,404 

Total for 1900 .2,516,462 


Counties , Population and Cojinty Seats of Indiana , Census of igoo 


Counties 

Population of County Seats. 

Population 
of County. 

Adams. 

4,142 Decatur. 

22,232 

Allen. 

45,115 Fort Wa} 7 ne . 

77' 270 

Bartholomew. 

8,180 Columbus. 

24,594 

Benton . 

1,429 Fowler. 

13,123 

Blankford. 

5,912 Hartford City. 

17,213 

Boone.... 

4,465 Lebanon. 

26,321 

Brown. 

893 Nashville.. 

9,727 

Carroll. 

2,135 Delphi.. . 

19,953 

Cass . 

16,204 Logansport. 

34,545 

Clark . 

10,774 Jeffersonville. 

31,835 

Clay. . 

7^786 Brazil . 

34,285 

Clinton. 

7,100 Frankfort. . 

28,202 

Crawford 

655 Leavenworth. 

13,476 

Daviess. 

8,551 Washington. 

29,914 

Dearborn . 

4,326 Lawrenceburg. 

22,194 

Decatur.. 

5,034 Greensburg.. 

19,518 

DeKalb 

3,396 Auburn. 

25,711 

Dpi aware 

20,942 Muncie. 

49,624 

DnVinis 

1,863 Jasper. 

20,357 

Elkhart.. 

7,810 Goshen 

45,025 

Favette 

6,836 Connersville. 

13,495 

Flovd. 

20,628 New Albany. 

30,118 

Drill n tfl.i n 

2,213 Covington. 

21,446 

Franklin. 

2,037 Brookville. 

16,388 

Fnl tnn .... 

3,421 Rochester. 

17,453 

C-i henn 

6,041 Princeton. 

30,099 

Grant. 

17,337 Marion. ... . 

54,693 




































































100 

Counties, Population and County Seats .—Continued 


Counties. 


Greene. 

Hamilton .. 
Hancock. . 
Harrison... 
Hendricks. 

Henry __ 

Howard. .. 
Huntington 

Jackson- 

Jasper . 

Jay. 

Jefferson..., 
Jennings 

Johnson. 

Knox. 

Kosciusko... 
Lagrange... 

Lake. 

Laporte. 

Lawrence... 
Madison .... 

Marion. _ 

Marshall.... 

Martin. 

Miami. 

Monroe. 

Montgomery 

Morgan. 

Newton. 

Noble. 

Ohio. 

Orange._ 

Owen ... . 

Parke. 

Perry. 

Pike . 

Porter. 

Posey. 

Pulaski .... 
Putnam. 


Population of County Seats. 


Population 
of County. 


1,588 Bloomfield 
4,792 Noblesville ... 
4,489 Greenfield 

1,610 Corydon. 

1,802 Danville. 

3,406 Newcastle.... 
10,609 Kokomo . 

9,491 Huntington... 
1,685 Brownstown .. 
2,255 Rensselaer.... 

4,798 Portland. 

7,835 Madison. 

557 Vernon . 

4,005 Franklin. 

10,249 Vincennes.... 

3,987 Warsaw. 

1,703 Lagrange. 

2,336 Crown Point.. 

7,113 Laporte. . 

6,115 Bedford . .. . 

20,178 Anderson. 

169,164 Indianapolis.. 

3,656 Plymouth. 

683 Shoals . 

8,463 Peru. 

6,460 Bloomington.. 
6,649 Crawfordsville 
4,038 Martinsville... 

1,006 Kentland. 

1,324 Albion. 

1,548 Rising Sun ... 

1,186 Paoli. 

2,026 Spencer. 

2,045 Rockville. 

2,188 Cannelton. ... 
1,751 Petersburg.... 
6,280 Valparaiso ... 
5,132 Mt. Vernon .. 

1,684 Winamac. 

3,661 Greencastle... 


28,530 

29,914 

19,189 

21,702 

21.292 
22,088 
28,575 
28,901 
26,633 

14.292 
26,818 
22,913 
15,757 
20,223 
32,746 
29,109 
15,284 
37,892 
38,386 
25,729 
70,470 

197,227 

25,119 

14,711 

28,344 

20,873 

29,388 

20,457 

10,447 

23,533 

4,724 

16,845 

15,149 

23,000 

18,788 

20,486 

19,175 

22,333 

14,033 

21,478 






























































































101 


Counties , Population and County Seats— Continued. 


Counties. 

Population of County Seats. 

Population 
of County. 

Randolph. 

3,705 Winchester.... 

28,653 

Ripley. 

501 Versailles. 

19.881 
20,148 

8,307 

26,491 

22,407 

10,431 

58.881 
15,219 
26,005 

Rush . 

4,511 Rushville 

Scott . 

1,274 Scottsburg 

Shelby. 

7,169 Shelbyville 

Spencer. 

2,882 Rock port 

Starke. . 

1,466 Knox . 

St. Joseph. 

35,999 South Bend 

Steuben. 

2,141 Angola. 

Sullivan .... 

3,118 Sullivan. 

Switzerland. 

1,588 Vevay. 

11,840 

38,659 

19,116 

6,748 

71,769 

15,252 

62,035 

28,235 

11,371 

22,329 

19,409 

38,970 

23,449 

19,138 

Tippecanoe. 

Tipton. . 

18,116 Lafayette. 

3,764 Tipton. 

Union . 

1,449 Liberty. 

Vanderburgh. 

59,007 Evansville... 

Vermillion. 

610 Newport. 

Vigo.. 

36,673 Terre Haute. 

Wabash. 

8,618 Wabash,. . 

Warren. 

1,245 Williamsport . 

Warrick. 

2,849 Booneville. 

Washington. 

1,995 Salem. 

W ay n e. 

18,226 Richmond. 

Wells. 

4,479 Bluffton. 

White . 

2,107 Monticello. 

Whitley. 

2,975 Columbia City. 

17,328 




























































AUG 27 1906 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

A Great State. 89 

Auditor. 29 

Cities. 49 

Contracts. ^0 

Coroner. 36 

County Clerk. 30 

County Commissioners and County Council. 22 

County Officials Term and Salaries. 16 

County Superintendent. 31 

County Treasurer. 20 

Courts and Proceedings. 40 

Government vs. Anarchy. 82 

Grand Jury.. 37 

How Lands are Surveyed. 80 

How Roads are Changed . . . 76 

How Juries are Drawn. 38 

In Conclusion. 90 

Laws, Lawyers and Practice. 13 

Legislature at Work. 9 

Liquor License. 25 

New Laws . 88 

Political Parties—Machinery. 62 

Poor House. 52 

Population by Counties. 93 

Recorder .. 28 

Remonstrance. 26 

Road Supervisor. 55 

School Fund... 60 

Sheriff. 30 

State School System. 58 

Surveyor. ... 36 

Taxation. 18 

Towns. 50 

Township Officers Term and Salaries. 18 

Township Trustee. 52 

Truant Officer. 84 














































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